


The Strength of Hope

by Anonamagal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), Eventual Romance, Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2020-01-24 02:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 63,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18562297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonamagal/pseuds/Anonamagal
Summary: Lance finds himself in a difficult situation, his team are imprisoned and now it's up to him to save them, only others pin their hopes on him to save their planet. Lance will have to learn to believe in his own strength if he's to save anyone.





	1. Chapter 1

‘Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.’ Lance frantically muttered under his breath in a panic as he tripped and stumbled through the thick trees and foliage. Behind him he could hear the heavy footfalls of angry Orgs pounding behind him, he couldn’t tell if it was his panic making them sound closer than they were, or they were really gaining on him.

He’d had the advantage, being further away from the rest of the team to get clean shots on the empire drones, but no one had expected giant green natives to come charging out of the facility armed with bone swords, in the confusion his team had been overwhelmed and captured and Lance had made a tactical retreat so that he could regroup and think of a way to save his friends.

Only they were still chasing him. 

He leapt over a tree root and tripped over the next one, landing on his face with a crack, and holy shit that was his nose! With a hand covering his nose, he rolled to the side, tumbling down a small incline and neatly into a burrow under a slightly uprooted tree.

Catching his breath, he waited, the pounding growing louder. He closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing as best as he could despite the agonising throbbing of his nose, which was definitely bleeding.

The beating of multiple feet were over him now… and then past him. He sagged, utterly exhausted. He stayed under the tree until the sound began to fade and only then did he crawl out from his hiding place and stagger to his feet.

He propped himself up against the tree and looked around, trees in every direction for as far as he could see.

Now what? 

Right ok, so he didn’t have back up, his whole team was captured, he was stranded on a planet filled with people that wanted to kill him, his lion was probably under heavy surveillance and his helmet had been lost back in the fray so he had no way to communicate with the castle of lions. 

He gingerly touched his nose and hissed. And his nose was broken. 

‘Oh crap.’ He said again for good measure.

Whichever way he went it was definitely going to be in the opposite direction of where the Orgs had stampeded off to, so with a heaving sigh, he edged around the tree and started jogging lightly and hoped that it was the right way.

He summoned his bayard and lifted it to hold the rifle with both hands, ready.

Lance was getting nowhere. The second sun was beginning to pass through the trees and the sky was turning red, meaning it would be night soon, every where he looked it was just more trees, sometimes he’d find a clearing and he’d take a moment to catch his breath, but he didn’t linger long since he was fairly sure that group of Orgs were probably still looking for him.

It was eerily quiet here, Lance had noted, no animals scurrying, or leaves rustling, not even a single bird twittered, if this planet even had birds, the point was it was a suffocating silence.

He had nothing to ground him, nothing to focus on and not a single clue as to which direction to go in. His team mates were in trouble and he was running around in circles in a goddamn forest. 

He came to a stop and stared blankly in front of him for a moment before dropping down on a fallen tree. What was he going to do? Obviously he had to sneak back to the facility and get to Red, but his bond with Red wasn’t really strong enough yet to call to her from far away, so he’d have to get into the facility as well which by himself, seemed impossible. 

He really hoped his team didn’t think he’d abandoned them, Keith had told him to run after all, but maybe if he had stayed, there might have been something he could have done. Or maybe he would have been captured too and then there would be no one to come and save them. 

Not that this scenario was any better, there wasn’t much Lance could do alone and even if he could, he was lost in this stupid woods! 

With a burst of anger aimed at himself he dropped his head into his hands and groaned. He should have been the one to get captured, Keith would have found a way to save them already, or Pidge, or Hunk. Anyone really, anyone but him.

There was a crack of a twig from somewhere behind him, Lance heard it clearly because this damn forest made no sound. He snapped his eyes open in time to see a shadow looming over him, something raised over their head with a very clear intention. 

Grabbing his weapon, he threw himself to the side just in time to avoid being sliced in half by a heavy looking bone axe. The log he’d been sitting on splintered to pieces under the swing. An Org. Must have snuck up on him while he was having a pity party.

Shit. This one was as giant as his brethren, arms bulging as he hefted his massive axe up and on to his shoulder. Black eyes watched him keenly, lips twisted into a snarl, two of his bottom teeth were oversized and jutted up over his top lip.

This was not an enemy that Lance could overpower. But perhaps he could outsmart him. 

He aimed his blaster but didn’t shoot straight away, instead he waited, meeting the Org’s gaze head on and glaring. Show no fear or weakness and there’d be nothing for them to exploit.

The Org snarled, losing patience, he charged forward, axe raised, and muscles tensed ready to bring it down on Lance hard.

And Lance waited. 

Right until the axe was being swung down on to him in an unstoppable arc. He side-stepped the swing and the axe, with all the ferocity put behind the swing, was wedged deeply into the trunk that had been at Lance’s back.

The Org yanked back, but the axe was stuck, Lance knew he probably had enough strength to get it with a couple of yanks but he’d waste seconds doing it but seconds was all Lance needed.

He put some space between them, the Org tried to keep an eye on him while simultaneously trying to pull his axe out but Lance already had his gun aimed, the Org looked ready to give up on his axe, something in his eyes made Lance pause though and at the last second Lance switched his gun to stun and shot three precise shots that downed the Org.

The Org shook as electricity coursed through his body and then he slumped, unconscious.

Lance stared for a moment, gun still aimed at the enemy until it was clear he wasn’t getting back up. Resignation, he’d seen resignation in the Org’s eyes. He stepped back, the arm holding his gun dropped to his side and he sighed.

He took another step back and his whole world turned upside down.

Literally.

He dangled a couple of feet from the floor by his ankle which was wrapped in a vine. And his gun was now on the floor out of his reach. 

‘Oh crap.’

He wiggled, he shook, and he tried to reach the vine around his ankle but every movement seem to tighten the knot further, so for now he dangled uselessly up in the air. Except that blood was rushing to his head and making his nose throb quite uncomfortably and he was sure he was losing feeling in his foot.

A fair amount of time must have passed because Lance drifted off, only the sound of rustling and grunts woke him right up, his eyes snapped open in time to see the Org groggily getting to his feet. Holding his breath, he watched him plant a thick hand on the trunk of the tree and another wrapped around the handle of his axe, with a grunt he yanked it out and to Lance’s misery, the Org turned to face him.

A beat passed where the Org stared at Lance and Lance stared back like a deer caught in the headlights.

He was about to die.

The Org lumbered forward, despite his size his steps were quiet, very unlike those Org that had been chasing him earlier. He stopped in front of Lance, eyes trailing up to look at the vine and he grunted in a way that might have been a laugh.

Lance might have been offended if he wasn’t trying his hardest to control the oncoming panic attack.

‘Why did you not kill me when you had the chance?’ The Org asked in a deep gravelly voice, as his eyes dropped back down to meet Lance’s. Lance had to take a moment to compose himself before he could answer.

‘My job is to save lives, not take them.’ He said. ‘If it can be helped, and you looked as if you weren’t ready to die.’ The Org’s eyes widened a little before narrowing.

‘And if I kill you now?’ He asked. ‘Would you regret letting me live?’

Lance wanted to say yes but given another chance he might have made the same decision, the fear in his eyes had been too real and it wasn’t something he could have ignored, to pull the trigger and end a life wasn’t easy, mechanical droids? Sure. A living breathing creature… not so easy.

‘Murder isn’t my style.’ He settled for, with a small shrug. ‘Besides can’t regret anything if I’m dead.’ He sounded awfully casual despite how scared he was, he was much to young to die, and considering he was still dangling from a tree by his ankle, well, that was just plain embarrassing. 

The org just hummed in response, he bent down and picked up Lance’s weapon which had returned to it’s bayard form, he weighed it in his hand and seemed to contemplate something. And obviously he came to a decision, and not in Lance’s favour, because he adjusted his grip on the axe and swung it backwards.

Lance slammed his eyes closed and wished he couldn’t hear the whistle of the axe flying towards him.

But this forest was too quiznacking quiet.

Thump.


	2. Chapter 2

Thump.

Lance’s eyes snapped open just in time to see the world coming towards his face. Oh, nope, that was him crashing down. Just before he met the ground though, he ducked his head and shielded his face with his arms.

He hit the ground hard, leaving him feeling winded and bruised but he didn’t waste too much time before staggering to his feet. He backed away from the towering Org and watched him with narrowed eyes. Why would he free Lance when he had a clean hit? Lance didn’t think that he’d missed since all the Org did was wait patiently for Lance to right himself, watching him silently.

‘Why?’ Lance asked, uncertain.

‘You spared my life, so I spare yours.’ Lance gaped at him, he glanced away and then back again before blinking.

‘Alright.’ He said slowly, and then tilted his head and squinted up at the Org. ‘Are you allowed to do that?’ He questioned.

The Org looked around himself and his mouth lifted at the corner into a half smile.

‘I see no one here to stop me.’ Lance glanced around to and nodded slowly. 

‘That’s true.’ He conceded, feeling completely blind-sided by the whole encounter. ‘So, you’re just going to let me go?’ He asked, pointing over his shoulder.

‘And where would you go, little one?’ The Org asked, thick brow arched. Little one? Lance takes in the size of the guy, he supposes even he is a little guy compared to this hulking being. 

‘I…’ And that’s the problem isn’t it? Lance doesn’t know where to go or how to save his friends, he was lost. ‘…don’t know.’ He confessed quietly. ‘My team was captured by the empire based on your planet, I have to save them…’ He sighed, shoulders sagging in defeat. ‘But I don’t know how.’ He realised quite abruptly that he probably shouldn’t be confessing this to a possible enemy. He glanced down at his bayard which was still in the Org’s grip and up again, the Org looked amused. 

‘You may try it,’ The Org said, waving the bayard in front of him. ‘Or,’ He opened his palm and held it out to Lance. ‘You could just take it back.’ 

Was this some kind of trick? He reached out cautiously, half expecting the Org to yank it out of his reach but he doesn’t, Lance closed his hand around the bayard and yanked it towards himself, holding it to his chest protectively.

‘I don’t understand.’ Lance whined. ‘Why are you giving me back my weapon, aren’t you taking me hostage or something, you could have killed me easily.’

‘There is no honour in killing the defenceless, but I do not plan to fight you, nor do I plan to capture you.’

‘Then what the heck is going on?’

‘More than I can explain right now. You said your job was to save lives, not take them.’ 

Nodding, Lance answered. ‘Yeah, we’re the paladins of Voltron, we came because we received a distress signal, though it turns out it was a trap.’ He muttered angrily.

‘No, not a trap.’ The Org stated. ‘Just unfortunate timing.’ Lance frowned.

‘So there really is a distress beacon.’ He surmised. ‘But how do you know?’ 

The Org looked over Lance’s head, eyes scanning the area before he grunted and took a step back, Lance looked over his shoulder, paranoia creeping up his spine like spiders, why was it still so damn silent?

‘Not here.’ The Org cocked his head in a direction. ‘Come, I will explain everything once we are truly alone.’

Where they not, he wanted to ask instead he settled for a sharp nod. This Org didn’t seem to want to kill him, so for now he guessed this was his best option, he followed, but he didn’t release the tight grip he had on his bayard.

Despite his size, the Org travelled quite nimbly and almost silently through the forest, he avoided touching the foliage rather then shoving through it, and maybe that was how he moved so quietly through the forest.   
But it was too quiet, and Lance hated the silence. 

‘I’m Lance, by the way, the red paladin of Voltron.’ It probably wasn’t wise to reveal his name to a possible threat but now that the Org wasn’t actively trying to kill him, Lance couldn’t help but notice that there was something trust worthy about him. The Org glanced at him then back to their path. 

‘I am Mor’ghan, I was once a mighty warrior of our clan.’

‘Once?’ Lance scoffed, he looked Mor'ghan up and down. ‘You still look mighty to me.’ Mor’ghan almost smiled but shook his head with an air of sadness. 

‘Might is more then just physical power, it also the strength of our soul and our resolve.’ He closed his eyes and sighed. ‘Under Rok’oth and the empire we are no longer the mighty warriors of Orgreth, our honour was stripped from us when Rok’oth sold us to the empire and our traditions became… entertainment.’ He spat out, the muscles in his neck seem to pulse with the anger in his words and Lance’s grip tightened.

‘Rok’oth?’ Lance asked.

‘That honourless son of a Cragjore poses as our chieftain, he betrayed us to Zarkon and murdered our true Chieftain in the name of power, and now he takes our mates to keep us in line and our children to entertain the Galra in their arenas.’ Lance’s grip had loosened as he listened, stories like these cropped up all over the place, on every planet, in every race, and it sucked, it really sucked that people would do that to their own people. 

But something in the way Mor’ghan spoke, hurt Lance, the anger, understandable, the raw pain though when he mentioned mates and children was something that pierced Lance deeply. He had probably had his mate taken, his children too, and family was important in any culture, but he was beginning to think it meant something else here.

Lance had to save his friends, but this wasn’t something he could walk away from either, it was his duty after all.

‘I don’t know how much I can do while my team is held by the Galra, and without my lion, but,’ He looked up to meet Mor’ghan’s gaze, who had turned his head to look at him, with a determined expression, ‘I’ll give it my all to help you and your people.’ He then sagged with a pout. ‘Though I’m not really sure how I can help, it’s just me after all, and honestly, I’m not the strongest on my team.’

Shiro, Keith or Allura would have been better suited for this, they were the leaders after all, or Pidge or Hunk, with their smarts, literally anyone but him. What did Lance have to offer that could help?

He jolted out of his self-depreciating thoughts when Mor’ghan drops a hand on his shoulder, making him stagger a little under the weight of it.   
‘Strength can mean many things Lance, you may not have the physical strength your team mates have but you have a resolve in your eyes that tells me that your strength lies here.’ He moved his hand from Lance’s shoulder and pressed the tip of his finger to Lance’s chest. ‘Might, we have plenty of, what we need now is hope, and the steel in your eyes tells me that you are not one to give up on a cause no matter what happens.’

Lance stared up in awe, and when his eyes started stinging, he blinked quickly and offered a wobbly smile and a thumbs up. 

‘Lifting spirits is my speciality.’ He announced. ‘I’m also a pretty good shot.’ He added with a small shoulder shrug. Mor’ghan laughed, deep and gruff. He patted Lance’s arm, sending him stumbling to the side. 

‘Yes, I have felt those shots.’

‘Ah yeah,’ Lance cringed, scratching the back of his head, ‘but to be fair you were trying to kill me.’ He pointed out.

‘And I apologize for that,’ Mor’ghan sobered, the mirth falling away. ‘but I believe our paths crossing was no accident, I believe you are exactly who my people need right now.’

So, no pressure then.

Lance knew he was no longer the same boy that was jettisoned out in to space so long ago, none of them were truly the same, war made them grow up, and Lance felt, since trying to support Keith when Shiro first went missing and then trying to fill the space he left behind when he joined the Blade permanently, that he’d matured, grown.

Lance did have one thing he was good at now that he thought on it.

He was adaptable. 

‘I can do this.’ He said, resolved. 

‘Then come, there are people you should meet.’ 

They started walking again, deeper and deeper into the woods where the trees grew thicker and the foliage heavier, barely allowing any light to filter through, though it could very well be night time, Lance just couldn’t tell. 

He had asked Mor’ghan several times where they were going only to be told it wasn’t safe and he had to be patient. 

So they kept walking. And walking. And they did some more walking. 

In the distance, Lance began seeing floating blue lights, he squinted but from this distance they didn’t seem to have a solid form. As they got closer, more appeared, dotted sporadically all over, hanging just above the mist that now covered the forest floor. It was all so enchantingly eerie. Lance shivered.

‘What are these?’ He asked, with a hand hovering under an wisp that was drifting past him.

‘The spirits of fallen warriors.’

Lance snapped his hand back and took a step away from the orb.

‘It is the duty of the druid clans to guide the spirits to their final resting place, these ones have lingered long, unable to move on, since Rok’oth took control of the clans, the druids of the forest have closed themselves off, they no longer stray far from their dwellings.’

Lance watched the wisp float off, drifting aimlessly between trees and disappearing into the mist, he shuddered.

‘So without the druids help you guys can’t move on?’ Mor’ghan shook his head. 

‘They are the only ones that can perform the ritual of sending, these souls will linger until they turn into ghasts, violent and vengeful beings, it is a great crime to deny a warrior his sending and a great shame to allow them to turn into a ghast.’

‘That’s awful.’ Mor’ghan nodded sadly, he reached out and touched a nearing wisp, it let out a small pained sigh before passing through his hand and moving on past. Mor’ghan clenched his hand into a fist.

‘Rok’oth,’ He spat the name out, ‘believes that a fallen warrior is no true warrior if he died in combat, that only the victor has earned that right, but for an Org, to die in battle is a great a honour, the sending ritual is performed by the druids and witness by the survivors, to acknowledge their honour, their memory, their strength and their sacrifice’ 

Lance can see the way Mor’ghan clenched his teeth, making a muscle tick in his jaw as he watched the wisp drift away. Lance followed his gaze and watched the wisp too. Eye’s glued to it, Lance suddenly became aware of the haunting sounds, like hollow sighs and muted cries, all around them, coming in and out of focus and sending a chill up his spine.

He might actually have preferred that suffocating silence over this.

‘Let’s move on.’ Mor’ghan said, turning back the way they had been heading, Lance, relieved, threw the wisp he’d been watching one last sad look before scrambling to follow. 

It’s not that long later when they come to a stop in front a giant tree, so tall that Lance couldn’t see the top and so wide it would take at least four of him with arms spread wide to match it.

At the base, where they come to a stop, there was a symbol carved into the wood that looked kind of familiar. He thought back, trying to place the mark but it didn’t come to him straight away. Mor’ghan reached up to touch the mark but before he could, he stopped. 

Frowning, Lance was about to ask when he heard a small sound, it was barely audible, a shift of leaves, in a forest that might have been normal, but this was not a normal forest. He gripped his bayard just as he heard something sailing through the air, slicing through it with such a speed that he could almost hear the whistling.

His weapon emerged in a flash of light and he stepped between it and Mor’ghan, he was almost surprised to see the broadsword since he hadn’t activated it since that time in the training room, but it felt right in his hands in this moment, and just like that time he wielded it swiftly and the dagger that had been flying through the air towards them ricocheted off its surface with an echoing clang and buried itself into a nearby tree.

Lance barely spared it a glance, instead his eyes were trained on the figure standing a few yards away. Dressed head to toe in a white body suit with purple accents, they had a large white hood covering most of their face but from he could see they were wearing a white mask anyway.

Abruptly, the tense moment was broken when Mor’ghan slapped Lance on the back, breaking his stance, and laughed loudly. 

‘You have fast reflexes little one, and you,’ He pointed a finger at the newcomer, they seemed to relax their stance, they cocked a hip and planted a hand on it, ‘Better luck next time.’

‘If it wasn’t for him I totally would have had you.’ Said a distinctly feminine voice. ‘Who is he anyway?’

‘He is right here.’ Lance interjected. ‘And I’m Lance, the red paladin of Voltron.’ He announced. The girl tilted her head to the side.

‘If you’re the red paladin of Voltron,’ She started, the words coming slowly, ‘why are you wearing blue?’

Lance gasped.

‘There are complicated reasons for that but most importantly it’s because blue brings out the colour of my eyes, and can you imagine me in red,’ Lance shuddered, ‘yeah I‘m fond of my Red kitty but red really isn’t my colour.’ It would also mean he would have to wear Keith’s armour which… hmm, not going there.

The girl moved closer and seemed to peer at him, the hood moved so that Lance saw purple ovals where the eyes would be.

‘You’re right, that colour really makes your eyes pop.’ She said, straightening up, Lance preened happily before remembering Mor’ghan, he coughed awkwardly. ‘So you are to be our salvation, I thought there were more of you?’ She continued.

‘There are, but they got captured.’ 

‘Oh.’ She shifted back awkwardly. ‘That sucks.’

‘Yeah, it really does.’

‘So what you’re saying is that we don’t have Voltron?’ She looked over Lance’s head to address Mor’ghan and Lance’s shoulders shrunk at the implication in her tone. That Lance wasn’t enough.

A hand fell over one of his shoulders and Lance looked up with a startled little gasp. Mor’ghan was glaring down at the woman in front of them, his top lip raised in a snarl, Lance was surprised by Mor’ghan’s defensive attitude, and judging by the way the woman had stiffened, so was she.

‘We do not need Voltron. We have been guided into each other’s path for a reason and I am not one to question the will of Fate.’ He growled.

‘Fate, up until now, has been very cruel to your people.’ She argued.

‘Rok’oth and Zarkon’s Empire have been cruel to my people, but Fate has given us a chance.’ And he gently guided Lance back between them as if to present him to her. She glanced at him and he straightened up and after a moment of tense staring, she sighed.

Mor’ghan’s faith in Lance was flattering and completely unexpected and though Lance has been inspired to help, he’s beginning to think Mor’ghan is pinning too much hope on Lance.

‘Fine, if you say so.’ The woman snapped, she stalked over to the tree where her dagger was embedded and as she yanked it out Lance finally got a look at it and was that… the purple symbol glowed on the blade much like the dagger that never left Keith’s person, in fact the dagger was an exact copy of Keith’s.

His head shot round to look up at the symbol that was burned into the bark with dawning realisation.

That was the symbol for the Blade of Marmora.

He grinned. It looked as if his luck might be turning.


	3. Chapter 3

‘Holy shit, you’re a blade of-‘ Lance was cut off when a hand was slapped over his mouth and a dagger was pressed against his throat. He blinked owlishly at the woman whose face was now inches away from his. It was impossible to tell what her expression was through the mask, but Lance had a feeling she was not pleased with him. 

‘How do you know about the Blade?’ She asked, voice low and dangerous. Before he could squeak out an answer, Mor’ghan interrupted the moment. 

‘Perhaps we should save this for when we are not out in the open.’ 

The woman stared Lance down, dagger still steady at his throat, until she huffed out a little annoyed sound and pulled the dagger away and sheathed it, never taking her eyes off of him. Lance took a deep breath and then moved a step closer to the Org, who oddly, felt like the safer option to be around right now.

She shook her head and stepped around them both, hand reaching up to press against the tree trunk where the symbol lay. For a moment nothing happened, and then gradually a glow began to build under her palm. 

Something beneath them shifted, and Lance stumbled back when the floor began to open at his feet. Dirt trickled in the growing opening and Lance leaned over to peer into the hole, he could just about make out the beginnings of misshapen earthy steps, they disappeared into the yawning darkness.

The opening, once the floor stopped shifting, was just big enough that Lance could climb down comfortably, except… He looked up at Mor’ghan.

‘It’ll be a bit of a tight squeeze for you, won’t it big guy?’ Lance said, peering back at the hole. 

‘Our paths separate here for now little one, I must get back before Rok’oth grows wary of my absence, but we will see each other again on the new sun.’ Lance’s eyes snapped up to look at the woman standing by the tree still, her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked extremely unwelcoming. 

Did they really expect Lance to follow a lady who only moments ago had pressed a dagger to his throat, and into the deep, dark hidden passage, alone? 

Uh, that sounded like a really bad idea. A terrible idea.

He gestured for Mor’ghan to bend down, curiously, he bent at the waist slightly so that he was eye level with Lance.

‘You’re leaving me alone with her?’ He whispered behind a hand. ‘I’m pretty sure she wants to stab me.’ Mor’ghan glanced at the Blade then back to Lance with a small smile.

‘Do not take it too personally, she tries to stab a new person every couple of days, I think it is her way of making friends.’ Lance lent back a little and glanced at her from around Mor’ghan, she was tapping her foot impatiently now, her fingers tapping against her upper arm. Unlikely, he thought, but she kind of reminded him of someone so he nodded.

‘I know someone like that, stab first, makes friends after.’ He thought on it for a moment and smiled. ‘Strangely, it seems to work for him.’ But as he thought of Keith, his smile dropped, Keith who had been captured by the Galra, who had looked around frantically until his eyes had landed on Lance and had screamed through the bodies of droids and Orgs surrounding him for Lance to run.

Oh man, and this was why he hadn’t wanted to think about Keith, the look in his eyes when he’d been searching for Lance had been painful, leaving a heavy feeling on his heart that Lance wasn’t ready to understand.

He shook the thoughts away and refocused on Mor’ghan with a half-hearted glare.

‘Alright, but for the record if she does kill me, I’m blaming you.’ Mor’ghan chuffed out a laugh and patted Lance’s back as he straightened up.

‘Noted, but Kira is like a small Yuffler, grumpy and snappy, but loyal, I trust her not to kill you.’

He looked over at “Kira” again, he didn’t know what a Yuffler was but he was willing to bet her bite was just as bad as her bark.

‘Are you done?’ She snapped. ‘You know I can hear everything you’re saying right, I think it’s physically impossible for Org’s to whisper.’ And she’s got a point, Mor’ghan’s voice is deep and booming even when he’s trying to talk quietly. ‘And I am not a Yuffler, they are tiny, loud and rude.’

‘A Yuffler bit her once when she tried to pet it.’ Mor’ghan explained to Lance who ahh’d in understanding. Kira huffed in obvious annoyance and crossed her arms again, Lance could just imagine the pout she probably had on her face.

‘That Yuffler was dumb, I didn’t want to pet it anyway.’ She grumbled, looking away from them.

Mor’ghan laughed loudly and Lance’s reservations seemed to just melt away because the way she acted kind of reminded him of his sister. Rachel acted all cool and aloof but Lance knew she was the kind of girl that got upset when their cat would only let Veronica near, who had a soft spot for terrible puns and secretly liked upbeat k-pop music.

The moment is interrupted when they all hear a hum in the air, falling silent Mor’ghan and Kira take on defensive stances and both scan their surroundings, Lance just frowned, he was sure he’d heard this sound before, and that tingle in the air like static electricity… his eyes shot open but by the time realisation settled in a giant bundle of blue fur was popping out of thin air right over him.

He stretched his arms out and Kosmo dropped down straight into his chest knocking the air clean out of him. He crashed to the floor and wheezed as Kosmo weakly licked a strip up the side of his face making Lance’s hair stick up.

He buried his hands in Kosmo’s fur and scratched him behind the air, his tail thumped once but instead of the happy pants he usually offered, he whined, head dropping to Lance’s chest. 

‘Kosmo?’ Lance questioned in concern. ‘Buddy, what’s wrong?’ He nudged Kosmo off and the wolf stumbled to his feet, or tried to, the moment he was on his feet, his front legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground.

And now that Lance could see all of Kosmo he understood, his fur was matted and singed in some areas, his body trembling from pain and probably exhaustion, and Lance could see blood.

‘Please don’t be your blood. Please don’t be your blood.’ Lance chanted as he gently sifted through fur, he froze and then he cursed. A large gash on Kosmo’s shoulder was gaping and it was weeping blood at an alarming rate.

‘What happened?’ He asked Kosmo, who just glanced at him with tired eyes, Kosmo obviously couldn’t answer his question but Lance could guess. ‘You were trying to save Keith.’ He whispered. Kosmo whined again, and Lance’s heart ached, no animal should ever sound that sad as far as Lance was concerned.

‘I need to stop this bleeding, has anyone got anything I can use.’ He asked, shooting desperate looks towards both Mor’ghan and Kira. 

Mor’ghan immediately began removing the large red material sash from across his chest and lowered himself to one knee as he passed it to Lance. ‘A friend of yours?’ Mor’ghan asked.

Focused, Lance only nodded in answer. He rolled up the sash and with gentle shushing sounds he pressed it to Kosmo’s bleeding wound.

‘Where did it come from?’ Kira asked, scanning the area above Lance, she took a few steps closer, moving cautiously as if she were worried Kosmo might suddenly jump up and attack her.

‘He teleports.’ He grunted, he added pressure to the wound and Kosmo whined more, his legs weakly kicking out in distress. ‘It’s ok, I just need to slow the bleeding, I’m sorry.’ He whispered to Kosmo. ‘Kosmo belongs to one of my friends, and he must have been trying to get to him.’

‘The prison where your friends are being kept is protected by Galra Druid magic, no one comes or goes without their say so, including teleporting creatures.’ Mor’ghan explained.

‘Do you have medical supplies down there?’ He asked Kira, cocking his head towards the hole.

‘Of course, but how do you suppose we carry that down there?’

She had a point, Kosmo was big, and that opening was tight, he gritted his teeth and turned his gaze back to Kosmo.

‘Hey buddy, do you think you can manage one more teleport? You found me all the way out here so you can find me again, right?’ Kosmo lifted his head, he sniffed at Lance’s face and gave him a quick lick on the cheek. ‘Once we’re safe, I’ll patch you up properly ok, Keith would be devastated if he lost you so hold on for me, ok?’ With a small yip Lance nodded and looked up at Mor’ghan. He smiled.

‘I shall protect your friend until he teleports to you.’

‘Thank you, just keep applying a gentle pressure to this.’ He swapped places with Mor’ghan who nodded up at Lance with reassurance. ‘Go, I’ll shall see you on the next sun.’

‘Ok.’ He turned to Kira. ‘Let’s go then.’ She hesitated a moment, looking at Kosmo, then back to Lance, before nodding her head sharply and she stalked back to the opening with Lance on her tail. She began to descend into the hole and with a single glance back at Mor’ghan and Kosmo, Lance followed her down.

The passage was definitely too narrow for anyone but them to pass through. It was heavy with the scent of damp earth, and Lance had to valiantly ignore the encroaching claustrophobia every time dirt came loose over his head, his heart pounded as he tried his hardest not to think about being buried alive.

As they travelled deeper, the light that filtered through the opening faded until Lance could barely see a thing. He ran a hand along the walls to steady himself, fingers running over the roots of the massive tree that stood over them, they ran deep, not surprising considering how old the tree must be.

Soon though Lance couldn’t see anything at all.

‘How deep are we going exactly?’ He asked, his voice loud in the densely packed hallway.

‘Not much further now.’ Kira said, and as she spoke her suit began to glow softly, illuminating the area around them. ‘The steps are narrow here.’ She explained. And it was much better this way, it was still suffocatingly tight and the air was so musty it was kind of hard to breathe but at least like this he could see how secure the thick winding roots seem to hold back the dirt. 

A little further down, the ground started to feel different, less spongy and more sturdy and eventually he could make out the metallic sound off heavy foot falls landing on metal flooring.

Kira came to a stop and Lance noticed, as he peered around Kira, another Blade symbol on a metal wall. Roots had bent and shaped the metal with time to merge the two together almost seamlessly.

She reached over and pushed aside a tangle of reedy roots exposing a keypad, she poised her fingers over it before pausing. She looked over her shoulder at Lance who was staring at the keypad, he met her gaze and he was sure her eyes were narrowed at him. 

‘Oh, sorry.’ He muttered, he turned to look the other way. There was a pause before Lance heard rapid beeping as she typed in the code with practised ease. The wall hummed and then it slid open with a grind, misshapen as it was now, Lance was surprised it opened at all. 

She slipped through before the door had finished opening and Lance edged in after her. He looked around the low-lit room, it was sparsely furnished but there was something about the shape that made him think this might have been a ship.

Kira stalked straight to end of the room and out the door and Lance wondered if he should follow or just wait. He sighed, and then he glanced back at the door he’d slipped through.

‘Kosmo.’ He called out. 

Nothing happened and Lance’s heart rate spiked, he pushed down the panic and waited and only when static filled the air and the blue wolf popped in at his feet, did Lance relax. Lance dropped to his knees and grabbed the bloody rag that was still pressed to Kosmo’s shoulder.  
With gentle sounds and gentler fingers he removed the rag and sifted through the fur to see the wound.

‘No.’ Lance breathed. The wound was still weeping, blood bubbling up over the edges of the laceration as Kosmo panted weakly on the ground.

‘Is it bad?’ Kira was back, a small med pack in her hand. Lance snatched it from her and ripped it open, he poured the contents over the floor and sifted through it all. 

‘He’s haemorrhaging and there is nothing here that will help me,’ he tossed the few things he had picked up aside, ‘if I stitch him up he’ll still bleed and unless you happen to have bags of blood lying around that happen to match a rare cosmic wolf’s blood type there’s nothing I can do.’

He looked down at Kosmo and recalled the random nights the wolf had popped into his room and curled up at his side as if he could sense Lance’s pangs of homesickness and had wanted to help, the times he had saved each of them when they’d been cornered in battle, the way Keith’s face softened into that rare smile when ever he ran a hand through Kosmo’s fur.

No. 

‘There has to be something I can do.’ Lance whispered with conviction.

‘It might be kinder to put him out of his misery.’ Kira suggested. Lance stopped searching the pile again and slowly raised his head to glare at her for even suggesting that he… his lips curled into a sneer.

‘You do anything to this wolf and I won’t be held accountable for what I’ll do and I certainly won’t hold Keith back when I have to tell him why his companion is dead.’ He held her pinned with a glare, fuelled by the protectiveness he felt for Kosmo and his master, seeming to understand how serious Lance was Kira backed up and looked down at the floor. 

‘Ok, that was a horrid suggestion and I’m sorry for even mentioning it.’ 

Lance snapped his attention back to the pile of medical supplies, bandages, tapes, ointments, syringes filled with a thick blue liquid, he didn’t even know if any of this stuff was good to use on a wolf, he knew nothing about Kosmo’s physiology. According to Keith, Kosmo had crash landed on the back of the space whale he and his mum had been travelling on.

He was not a normal wolf.

‘Oh!’ Kira exclaimed. Lance looked up to see Kira clicking her fingers as she realised something. ‘The healing pools. We’d have to travel deeper since they're in the deepest caverns of the system and I’m not entirely sure how they work but we could try it.’ She ran over to one of the walls and slammed a fist over a button, a cupboard slid open and she yanked a gurney out.

She lay it out next to Kosmo.

‘Put him on there.’ Rushing into action, Lance shoved his arms under Kosmo’s form, it took some effort, and a lot of grunting, to lift him onto the board but once he was on Kira pressed her fingers into something on her side and the board began to hover. ‘I’ll lead the way.’

Lance barely took in his surroundings as they rushed out of the room and through more rooms until they were coming out into a large tunnel. He had eyes only for Cosmo, one hand on the gurney the other buried in the fur behind his ear.

‘I won’t let you die.’ Lance promised.


	4. Chapter 4

Kira’s strides were easily matched by Lance’s as they rushed through the tunnel system, heading deeper into the maze of winding passageways, fortunately Kira seemed to know where she was going and at this moment Lance chose to trust her.

Had Lance’s attention not been completely focused on Kosmo – he can only have one crisis at a time you know – he might have noticed they weren’t alone, along the tunnels, which seemed to double as a streets of sorts, Org’s wandered through, most stopped to watch them speed walk by.

They rushed through and Lance remained completely oblivious to the attention they were gathering.

They reached a steep part where Kira had to turn and reached up for the board and guided it down, Lance took the other end and hopped down behind her.

‘It’s just on the next bend.’

And she didn’t really need to say anything because already Lance could see a light filtering from around a corner and as they turned, he might have paused to admire the scene had he not been desperate to save Kosmo.

The cavernous room stretched out for a good mile, making the pool more like a small lake, and the water was so still it was like looking at the surface of a mirror.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but the water seemed to emit a gentle glow that lit the room enough for them to see.

‘Did I mention I don’t what to do next, I’ve only watched a healing once and the druids worked silently so I don’t know if there are magical words or they just had to stand in the pool and it activates.’ Kira rambled in a whispered rush, still her voice echoed across the silent cavern. ‘Oh, I should have grabbed someone as we passed.’ She fretted, wringing her hands together.

But Lance had stopped listening, he looked over the pool in contemplation, attention locked on its surface with a laser focus he usually only got when he was sniping, and his friend’s lives were on the line.

Something warm was climbing up his spine, it wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but it was foreign. It spread out gradually to envelope him completely and he welcomed the moment of calm it seemed to offer him.

_It’s ok._

Even with Kosmo bleeding out next to him and his friends captured by the enemy, Lance felt like he knew what he was doing, like he finally had some direction.

Fixing Kosmo was his priority.

He turned to the gurney and pushed his arms under the barely conscious wolf, he grunted with the effort to lift him but once he had him, he unsteadily made his way to the water.

It was shallow, only coming up to his knees, but once he was far enough in he lowered Kosmo into the warm water. Kosmo didn’t even flinch but his head did lift to regard Lance. He smiled.

‘It’s going to be ok.’ He reassured and Kosmo seemed to believe him because his head dropped back onto the Lance’s arm. Lance continued to submerge Kosmo until only his head remained above the water, the ripples from their movements travelled out but almost instantly the water would go eerily still again.

He knelt down next to Kosmo and he waited… but nothing happened.

Desperately he looked to Kira who tensely stood at the edge of the pool.

‘It’s not working.’ He said quietly.

‘I… I think I heard something about an exchange, you can’t take from the planet without offering something in return.’

Ok, Lance was familiar with that, like that time on the Balmera when Allura had shared her quintessence to heal the planet, Coran had mentioned something about how they never took crystals without a ritual of exchange first.

But Lance didn’t know any rituals, it had never been brought up again after the events of the Balmera and it wasn’t as if humans did anything like that – though he’s beginning to think they should with the rate at which they were draining Earth.

So he did the only thing he could do.

He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Kosmo, he concentrated on that warmth that had invaded his body and he pleaded.

‘Please,’ He whispered, ‘I don’t know how to do this, but I can’t let Kosmo die.’ In his mind’s eye he saw Keith, he saw the way he was with Cosmo, how soft and sure and calm he was when he sat with the wolf, he thought of all the things Keith had lost, and though he had gained some back in the form of his pseudo brother and his mum, it didn’t erase all the pain and the feelings of abandonment, or the loneliness, he'd been forced to experience.

Keith was strong, he had grown used to people leaving him behind, but Lance couldn’t let that happen again and though Kosmo might just be a wolf to some people, to Keith, he was much more.

‘Take whatever you need from me, whatever it takes to heal Kosmo.’ For Keith.

His eyes were still closed, but when a blue glow erupted from the water around his waist, burning through his eyelids, his eyes snapped open and he gasped. All around him, in a perfect circle that grew outwards from his person and encompassed Kosmo and most of their corner of the pool, was a glimmering blue light just under the surface of the water. The whole cavern lit up and small glowing orbs of water rose from the surface of the pool and converged on them both.

It was warm and it was soothing and when he looked down at Kosmo, he noticed the wolf was lit up, the blue in his fur pulsing with energy.

Each orb gently sank into Kosmo’s panting form, and gradually his breathing slowed to a steady pace. With shaking hands, Lance brushed aside the fur on Kosmo’s shoulder to inspect his injury and found, with immediate relief, that it was no longer bleeding. The wound had begun to mend itself, slowly knitting itself back together.

He let Kosmo’s fur drop back into place and looked down at Kosmo’s face. The wolf was staring up at him with a steady gaze and Lance smiled with an exhale.

‘It’s going to be ok.’ He whispered for Kosmo’s ears only.

Something small danced just on the edge of his vision, with a small frown of confusion Lance glanced up and startled back a bit when one of those glowing orbs bobbed in front his face. It hung there for a moment before edging closer, getting so close that Lance was almost cross-eyed watching it. It tapped his nose, in an almost shy like gesture, Lance blinked at it and then it bobbed faster, Lance wanted to say it almost looked like it was excited.

He chuckled a little and it bobbed side to side. It was kind of cute, for a shapeless blob of animated water.

It edged forwards again and touched the tip of his nose, only instead of bouncing away like it did before, it instead flattened to his nose until it was all covered.

The throb of his broken nose, which had kind of fallen from his attention with everything that had happened up until this point, came back into focus, but a cool misty sensation travelled across his face from the point of contact, soothing his nose and the headache attached to it.

The soothing feeling was followed by a slight tingle and then the water separated from his face, it bopped him on the space between his eyes and dove into the pool with a little splash.

He watched the space where it disappeared for a moment, and then reached up to touch his nose.

It didn’t hurt anymore.

He pressed harder, a slight twinge, but it was obvious now that his nose was no longer broken.

Huh?

He looked at Kosmo, smiled, then looked back to the water. 

‘Thank you.’ He said.

The water rippled in response and then the blue glow slowly began to recede back towards Lance until the water was back to the gentle, barely there, luminosity of before.

‘How you feeling, buddy?’ Lance asked, looking back at Kosmo. Kosmo lifted his head and offered Lance a small lick to the cheek which pulled a laugh out of Lance. ‘Feeling better then.’ He looked over Kosmo’s shoulder to check on the injury and was pleased to see it was mostly healed, the skin was pink and looked a little raw, but it wasn’t gaping anymore. ‘You’re lucky this planet happened to have mysterious magical healing water.’

‘Did it work?’ Kira’s shout pulled Lance out of the moment and he was abruptly reminded of his situation. 

He looked over his shoulder at Kira who stood at the edge of the water watching them, bobbing with an anxious energy.

And behind her stood a stoic looking female Org, half her face was obscured by a veil, leaving only her eyes uncovered, two giant tusks curled around her head, adorned with leaves and vines crafted from precious metals, it almost looked like a crown.

Lance straightened, his eyes also widened as he looked between Kira and the newcomer, it was then that Kira seemed to clue in to the situation because she looked over her shoulder and when she spotted the regal looking Org, she spun her whole body around to face her and straightened right up.

‘Ma Rhea’za!’ She exclaimed. ‘I can totally explain why there is a stranger in the sacred healing pools with no permission.’

Ma Rhea’za, who up until Kira had spoken, had been watching Lance with an unreadable expression, turned her gaze to Kira.

‘I was informed by my druids that they saw you running urgently to the caverns of healing with a strange boy and an injured wolf.’ Her voice was deep but smooth and it echoed across the cavern so it seemed like her voice was all around them.  

Lance thought about objecting to the descriptor of “strange boy” but as if she could read his mind Ma Rhea’za glance at him and arched a brow. Lance held his tongue. Now didn’t seem like the right time.  

‘I came as soon as I heard.’ And then Ma Rhea’za sighed. ‘Calm yourself Kira, you are not in trouble, I came to offer aid, our pools are open to any that need them, as you already know.’

‘Right.’ Kira sighed as she looked down at the ground.

‘I am interested in hearing how an outsider knew of our ritual, a ritual passed down to only a chosen few.’ This time the question was directed to Lance. He straightened from where he’d slouched slightly against Kosmo and opened his mouth to answer.

Only Lance didn’t have an answer, at least not one he’d thought she’d like.

‘I… uh… didn’t perform a ritual.’ He admitted. Ma Rhea’za, as he suspected, didn’t take too kindly to this answer, she stood at her full height, her eyes narrowed on Lance and he shrunk a little under the scrutinous look.

‘Lies,’ She hissed, ‘I saw it, the pools responded to you and they healed your pet from near death.’

‘I really didn’t perform any rituals, I don’t know any, I promise, I just…’ He tilted his head down and peered up at with a sheepish expression. ‘…asked nicely?’

‘You just…’ She sighed audibly; the sound almost echoed from how deep she must have pulled it from. ‘Say that I choose to believe you, what did you offer?’ He frowned. ‘You do not take a gift from Gaia without offering something in return.’ She explained.

Oh, that. What had he offered it in his frantic begging? A warmth bubbled up in the back of his mind and wrapped itself around him like a warm blanket, just like it had when he’d looked over the pool for the first time. It simultaneously alarmed him and comforted him, but it seemed as if it was meant as a gesture of reassurance.

‘I told her,’ Her? No, that sound about right. ‘I told her she could take whatever she needed to heal Kosmo.’

Ma Rhea’za’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open with a small gasp, and then she was rushing past Kira, who had been looking between them in open confusion, and straight into the water towards him.

Alarmed, actually no, terrified – this Org had to be over seven feet tall and was charging at him – he stumbled to his feet, only it was at that moment that he realised how drained he truly felt.

His vision wavered and he was overcome with a light-headedness that turned his legs to jelly, he staggered and only avoided falling flat on his face when Kosmo jumped up and caught him against his back, Lance leant against the giant wolf like a crutch and pressed the heel of his palm into his eye to try and dispel the static behind his eyelid.

‘Foolish child, you offer was too vague.’ Ma Rhea’za spat once she was in range. Lance squeaked out an embarrassing sound when his face was grabbed between two rough hands and dragged up, he forced his eyes open and found Ma Rhea’za peering straight into his own eyes.

Her golden eyes kept his locked on hers, unable to look away despite how nervous he was by her overwhelming presence, it was probing in a way that felt like she could see straight into his soul.

‘She could have taken everything.’ Ma Rhea’za explained.

Lance shrugged, his stance softening when he felt Kosmo nudge his hand, he gripped his fur lightly, to keep himself anchored in the moment.

‘I would do anything for my friends.’ He said, meaning it.

‘Even if it meant your life?’ She was talking in hushed tones now, her brow creased over her intense eyes.

‘Anything.’ He repeated. She remained silent; lips pursed as she continued to peer down at him, she looked troubled now. 

Ma Rhea’za’s hands fell away from his face and he slumped back down over Kosmo, she stepped away.

‘I am Ma Rhea’za, Chieftess of the Druid clan and I welcome you, Red Paladin, to our Barrow Den.’ She introduced herself, Lance wanted to ask how she knew who he was, but she continued. ‘For now, I advise that you rest, though Gaia has been generous with you, she has still drained a lot of your energy, it will replenish after a few days rest.’ Lance was already shaking his head.

‘My friends are in trouble I don’t have time to be resting.’ He argued.

‘You are useless to your friends as you are now, rest and recover and on the new sun we shall talk.’ She left no room for further argument and Lance gritted his teeth.

A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Allura’s, was telling him to be grateful she was letting him stay at all, it seemed what he had done for Kosmo might have been disrespectful of their ways.

His mama would be slapping the back of his head if she saw how rude he was being.

Even if he would have the done the same again if it meant saving one of his friends.

‘I’m sorry,’ He called out before Ma Rhea’za could turn away, ‘I didn’t mean to show disrespect but I was scared of losing him, and she said it was ok,’ he rubbed the back of his head where the warmth had settled. Ma Rhea’za frowned as she followed the motion with her eyes. ‘Thank you for letting me stay regardless.’

Her gaze shifted back to meet his and her face softened with a small sigh.

‘Rest.’ She repeated. ‘And we shall talk more then.’ And then she turned away, walking out of the water with a grace that contradicted her stature. She paused next to Kira. ‘Make sure he makes it back to your den; he’ll be unstable on his feet until he has rested properly.’ Kira nodded respectfully and then Ma Rhea’za strode from the room, purpose in every step.

A moment of silence passed between Lance and Kira before Kira was turning on the spot to face Lance.

‘Can you make it here or do you need me to come get you?’ She asked.

‘I can walk.’ He pouted. He pushed away from Kosmo and his legs trembled under his own weight but he was standing and that was something. He didn’t let go of Kosmo though, you know, just in case.

Kira snorted, unsympathetically, from her perch of rocks. ‘You look like a new-born Kelbirn.’

He gave her a flat look. Yeah, she definitely reminded him of Rachel, and that wasn’t a bad thing but the small pang of homesickness he could have done without. And on top of the aching anxiety he felt knowing his friends were in trouble and he couldn’t do anything about it right now, kind of made him an a bit of an emotional wreck.

The warmth pulsed, reminding Lance of its – her – presence and he took a deep breath. Right, there was that too.

Should he have brought that up to Ma Rhea’za?

Probably. But Lance was exhausted and suddenly the idea of nap sounded like the best plan anyone had ever had.

He made his way out of the pool with Kosmo’s help and Kira, proving she was wasn’t as heartless as she pretended to be, grabbed the board they’d used for Kosmo and placed it in front of Lance.

‘Get on, we’ll get no where if we have to keep walking at your pace.’

‘How kind of you.’ Lance drawled, but he climbed on anyway. It had been a really long day.

Lance kept a hand on Kosmo, who seemed to understand what he needed, he stayed close and to the gentle hum of the gurney and the pulsing waves of warmth that travelled through this body from his neck, he fell blissfully into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Keith paced. It’s all he could do to combat the restless energy that sat just beneath the surface of his skin. He glared at the iron bars that separated him from freedom and thought about punching them until his knuckles bled, but he wasn’t that reckless hot head of a kid anymore, besides he didn’t want to scare Hunk who was already on the edge of a full-blown anxiety attack.

So, he paced.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since they’d been captured, there were no windows here. The only thing that broke up the hours were when the doors would open, and a female Org would step through with their head bowed and leave a tray of unappetising food in each of their cells.

Assuming they were only getting one meal a day, it must have been roughly three days.

The girls had been placed in a cell on the other side of the room, Krolia had placed herself closest to the bars whilst Allura and Pidge sat huddled on the other side of her. Hunk and Shiro sat behind him, leaning against the wall.

‘Keith.’ Shiro sighed. ‘Will you please stop pacing, you’re making everyone nervous.’

‘What am I supposed to do?’ He growled in response, he was already on edge, he was aware enough to know that if he didn’t do something, he was likely to explode. ‘I can’t settle down and if I stop…’ If he stopped pacing and sat down like they all wanted him to it would give his head the opportunity it wanted to open up to thoughts of Lance.

Was he ok? Did he get away? Would he survive on his own?

Keith didn’t have any of the answers an it was killing him thinking that he might have put Lance in more danger by telling him to run.

No. Lance was ok. He had to be and unless he was told otherwise, he would continue to believe that Lance was alive.

He took a deep breath. For goodness sake, he was their leader and he was losing his shit like he used to do at the beginning, only now he didn’t have Lance to help him focus on the big picture. He stopped pacing and turned to Shiro, defeat on his face.

‘I don’t know what to do.’ He confessed.

Shiro smiled sadly before getting to his feet and closing the small distance between them, he dropped his hands over Keith’s shoulders and looked him in the eye, just like he used to do when Keith was a kid.

‘We’re a team, Keith, no one here expects you have all the answers, we have to work together so stop trying to shoulder it all.’

‘You’re… right.’ He conceded, dropping his head, he took a deep breath before lifting it again. ‘I’m sorry, I’m just on edge and I’m worried about…’ Shiro’s gaze softened in understanding, Keith didn’t have to explain because Shiro already knew.

‘We’re all worried about him, but give him a bit of faith, if there is one thing that I’ve learnt about Lance during our time in space is that the kid is adaptable.’

‘I’m not doubting him, I’m just… worried.’ He didn’t know how else to explain how worried he truly was without giving himself away but Shiro seemed to get it because his smile went from understanding to just this side of teasing.

‘I see.’ He said. He squeezed Keith’s shoulders before letting go. ‘Lance can be just as stubborn as you, he’ll survive.’ And just when Keith was beginning to relax, Hunk interrupted the moment.

‘But did you see the size of those guys, Lance is great, but he’s a beanpole, if they catch him, he’ll be crushed.’ Everyone groaned and simultaneously threw Hunk exasperated looks.

‘Thanks Hunk,’ Pidge grumbled from her cell, ‘for forcing everyone to think about the one thing we didn’t want to think about.’ Hunk shrank with a nervous little chuckle.

‘Oh, sorry.’

‘Alright everyone,’ Keith looked over them all before he continued, ‘Lance is going to be ok, we can’t afford to think otherwise, but we can’t leave him to do all the hard work so we need to think of something, so if anyone has got any ideas, I’m all ears.’

The deafening silence was disheartening. ‘Really, nothing?’

‘I don’t know what to say Keith,’ Pidge snapped tiredly, ‘None have of us has had a proper night’s sleep in like… whoever knows how long, and I can barely think straight, but what I do know is that this place is…’ She sighed. ‘Iron bars that need an iron key to open, stone walls, one iron wrought door into the room that also needs an iron key to open.’ She listed. ‘The only mechanical things in this place are the droids standing guard outside, there is nothing for me to hack or override, no forcefield that I can overload, and even if there was, they took absolutely everything I had on me. I’m good, but not that good.’

Allura wrapped an arm around Pidge’s shoulder and pulled her in to rest against her side.

‘Perhaps you should rest.’ Allura suggested gently.

‘I can’t turn my brain off.’ Pidge complained, but even as said this she settled comfortably against Allura’s side and struggled to keep her eyes open, Keith wouldn’t be surprised if Pidge had done a few all-nighters before they’d arrived on this planet.

‘We could try to overwhelm the next Org that brings us food.’ Krolia suggested.

‘I don’t know,’ Hunk said, ‘again, did you see the size those guys I’m not confident we can take them on, even the women looked like they could crush us with there bare hands. That’s not to say I don’t think you could crush someone with your bare hands, Krolia.’ Hunk added. 

Krolia arched a brow at Hunk but neither confirmed nor denied his claim.

Keith knew she could, he’d seen her do it.  

‘Allura,’ Keith said to grab the Princess’ attention, she looked up from Pidge, who despite her claim of not being able to turn off her brain enough to sleep, had fallen asleep, no doubt calmed by Allura’s ministrations. ‘Do you know anything about the Orgs?’

‘A little, my father approached them in the hopes of forming an alliance, but they declined, as was their right. We spent some time here during the negotiations. They are a warrior race, that greatly value honour and strength but despite this they did not want to invite an outsiders war to their planet because above all else they have deep love for their planet.’

Allura frowned, looking down with a sigh.

‘Which is why I am deeply trouble by their cooperation with the Empire, even if the Galra had tried to subjugate the Orgs, the Orgs would have fought to the death to save their planet, seeing them work with the monsters that are ravaging their land does not fit what I know of them.’

‘A lot could have changed in ten thousand years.’ Shiro reminded her gently.

‘I know, but I had never met a people that had a greater love for their planet then the Orgs, they never took without offering something in return, this planet flourished, it was beautiful, and now she is covered in scars she may not recover from.’

A crank of a key in the iron door of their room startled everyone into awareness, even Pidge who only seconds ago had seemed to be deep asleep, shot up. Everyone got to their feet and waited.

The door slammed open and in strode a massive Org, male this time, he stood a head taller than the Org’s that trailed in after him and carried himself with an arrogance that could only fit a leader. He was made bigger by the giant tusks the sat on each of his shoulders like armour and came down across his bare chest to taper off into sharpened points. Two axes strapped to his back towered over him, again adding to his size.

But the thing that really caught Keith’s attention, was the blue helmet clutched in this Org’s hand.

He tried to swallow down the panic and straightened up to face the Org.

‘We’re the Paladins of Voltron,’ Keith stated, ‘We were here to help, why have you imprisoned us?’

The Org looked him over, then glanced at the two Org’s behind with an amused snort, if they shared his amusement, they didn’t show it, and this Org didn’t seem to care.

‘Help? We don’t need help from outsiders. The Galra are our most auspicious guests, and they tell me that Voltron is a being of immense power,’ The Org’s lips twisted into a mocking grin, ‘So I must thank you for delivering it to me.’

‘The lions won’t answer to you.’ Allura spat from her cell, the Org threw her a disdainful look, and then turned back to Keith.

‘Your females are ill mannered.’ He commented snidely. Krolia straightened her shoulders and her lips pulled back over her fangs in aggression but it went unnoticed as the Org barely even acknowledged their presence.

Great. Keith thought viciously. So sexism was universal. He’d grown so used to seeing powerful woman, Allura, Krolia and Pidge being perfect examples, that he’d almost forgotten that there were some people, and aliens, with archaic views on gender hierarchy.

‘My _teammates_ ,’ he emphasised, ‘are the ones you shouldn’t turn your back to, when we escape from here, it’s them you’ll need to watch out for.’ The Org’s face twitched, annoyed, and then he laughed loudly, voice booming off the walls, Keith continued to glare unperturbed.

‘If, you escape, puny one, and you will not.’ He then threw Lance’s helmet to the ground at Keith’s feet, and now that Keith could see the whole thing he saw that it was dented and misshapen, Keith was willing to bet those dents would match up with the Org’s fingers, as if he’d crushed it with his bare hand. The visor was cracked through the middle and shards were missing, and as it spun slowly, Keith’s hands clenched into fists so tight his fingers ached, he could see blood. ‘Let this one be an example to those who wish to escape from me, he died a coward’s death.’

Keith couldn’t look away from the helmet, despair and disbelief warred in his mind, a reluctance to accept the evidence presented before him. Lance couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be.

What would he do if he was? He didn’t know, so Lance couldn’t be dead.

Not Lance.

‘I don’t believe you.’ Keith whispered shaking his head. He looked up from the helmet and locked eyes with the Org. ‘I don’t believe you.’ He said louder.

The Org snorted, he stepped up to Keith’s cell and leered down at him with a twisted smirk.

‘His screams echoed through that forest so beautifully, his blood stained the trees red and his body will feed our pups well. He is dead, I made sure of that. I am Rok’oth, Chieftain of the Clans, and no one challenges me and lives.’ Keith felt sick. He’s not dead, he’s not, he can’t be. He repeats these words like a mantra even as the picture Rok’oth paints twists his stomach and hurts his heart.

Rok’oth stepped away from the bars. ‘This victory is mine.’ He said and with a brutal laugh he turns and leaves the room.

One of the Org’s that had been flanking Rok’oth followed him out but the other stayed. He looked to the door as if waiting and when there was a clank of a distant door closing his gaze dropped to the helmet.

He glanced up at Keith who was watching him back with narrowed eyes, daring him to try anything, and then he slowly approached.

Keith shot forwards and wrapped his hands around the bars with a snarl. At this point he didn’t care how feral or Galra he might look as he stared the Org down.  

‘Take another step closer.’ Keith growled. ‘And I’ll kill you.’

‘Keith.’ Shiro snapped at his back.

The Org shook his head calmly.

‘No, his anger is justified,’ Said the Org, ‘but not all Org’s wish to make an enemy today.’

‘What do you mean?’ Allura asked, coming forwards too. The Org turned to Allura.

‘There is not much that I can say now, I have only moments before the guards return, so I will be brief,’ He turned his attention back to the helmet and with gentle fingers he picked it up, he cradled it in his hand, and with other he dusted it off as if it would do anything for the broken helmet. Keith watched every movement with keen eyes, hackles raised at seeing Lance’s helmet in the hands of one of the monsters that had killed him. He held up the helmet. ‘Do not give up on him.’ And then he holds out the helmet to Keith.

Thrown by the comment and by the turn of events Keith hesitated, he reached up slowly, expecting the Org to yank it out of his reach, but his hand was steady, and he waited patiently until Keith’s hands closed over the helmet. He pulled it as close to himself as he could, only it met the bars with muted clang, he wrapped his arms around it.

‘Who are you?’ He asked.

‘Mor’ghan.’ And then he leaned forwards until he was almost against the bars and his face was level with his. ‘Do you believe in Lance?’ He whispered. Keith’s eyes widen, How did this Org know Lance’s name, unless…

‘Yes.’ He said with no room for doubt. Mor’ghan smiled.

‘Then patience little one.’ And with one last cryptic smile, Mor’ghan left the room.

Keith’s gaze dropped back to the helmet, he turned it over in his hands trying to find a clue or a sign that Mor’ghan could be trusted and that Rok’oth was just lying.

Something nagged at the back of his mind, something that didn’t sit right, something to do with this helmet. Patience, Mor’ghan had advised. Patience yields focus, the voice in the back of his mind that always sounded like Shiro, reminded him.

He closed his eyes and took deep breathes; he tried his best to focus on that feeling fluttering just out of his reach. A memory maybe? Everything had happened so fast during their capture, that it was hard to catch the particular thought that evaded him. He batted away the grief that clouded his mind and the guilt that festered, after all he’d been the one to send Lance away, possibly to his death.

They would have been safer together.

He thought back to that moment when things had turned against them. The fight, to begin with had been routine, Galra droids were predictable, they’d fought them so often by now they could afford to get a little distracted.

The Orgs appearance had thrown them off, they were big, strong and clearly skilled fighters, they hadn’t stood a chance, unprepared as they were. They’d been surrounded, Shiro was at his back, Allura, Pidge and Hunk had been pushed together close by but… Lance wasn't with them.

He’d scanned the field and found him at the edge of the forest, Galra droid’s flanking him, two quick shots in succession took them down and then Lance was scouring the field too until his eyes locked with Keith’s, he’d gone from being focused to frightened in a matter of seconds and Keith knew Lance would fight for them, that he’d run in to try and give them a fighting chance, but that would have been reckless.

It’s exactly what Keith would have done.

But not Lance, he was more tactical then that, he would have stopped Keith, told him he was going to get himself killed if he tried it. The look in Lance’s eyes in that moment though suggested that all reason had left his mind, so it had been Keith’s turn to be Lance’s impulse control.

He’d screamed for him to run, to get away, reasoned to himself that at least Lance would be safe and he’d find a way to get them out.

Lance looked ready to disobey him, his teeth had been gritted so hard that Keith could just imagine the grinding sound and the tortured look of indecision in his eyes, from fearful, to determined, to pained, to eventually settle on reluctant acceptance.

Their gaze had held until the moment Lance had cursed before he turned and ran into the forest.

Keith watched him until he could no longer see him and then the Orgs dragged them to their prison.

He remembered seeing every emotion so clearly in his eyes, as if… wait.

Keith’s eyes snapped open and he looked at the helmet in his hands. Lance hadn’t been wearing his helmet when he’d disappeared into the forest, it probably got knocked off during the fight, unless Lance went back for it, which seemed unlikely.

And that meant Rok’oth had lied.

He smiled.

Of course he believed in Lance.

He thought back on what Mor’ghan had said and laughed in disbelief.

Not only had Lance escaped, but the lucky son of a bitch had found allies.

‘Don’t tell me lost your mind?’ Pidge snapped. ‘Lance is dead and you’re laughing.’ She was angry, and he guessed from her point of view it did look a little callous.

‘Something you want to share with the rest of us Keith.’ Shiro asked.

‘He’s not dead.’ He stated with absolute certainty. Hunk staggered to his feet, wiping tears and snot from his face with the back of his hand.

‘How do you know?’

‘Because that idiot lost his helmet during the middle of the fight, he ran off without it. This,’ he held up the helmet, ‘is a power play, Rok’oth wants to demoralise us, to break us, and the best way to do that is to make us think that he’d killed one of us.’ Everyone takes a moment to let it sink in.

‘Are you sure?’ Hunk asked, he looked uncertain as if he were to afraid to hope.

‘Yes.’

‘Lance could have just gone back for the Helmet.’ Pidge said, but Keith shook his head.

‘He wouldn’t have done, they might have expected him to, they probably had a trap ready, but he’s not dumb, he would find another way and I think he did.’

‘Or he could have got lost in the forest.’ Pidge said with an arched brow. Keith chuckled, because that seemed kind of likely too.

‘Maybe so, but either way Lance never went back for his helmet.’

‘It’s likely that this was a way for him to assert dominance.’ Krolia said. ‘If Lance has evaded capture then it seems that Rok’oth may be nervous, with Lance out there and unaccounted for, it makes him a wild card.’

‘Ok, so what we’re saying is that Lance isn’t dead, right?’ Hunk asked, looking around at everyone for confirmation.  

‘He’s not dead, that Mor’ghan guy hinted that much, but he knew Lance by name which means, that against all odds, Lance found help.’ Keith was giddy with relief. Lance was alive, he was sure of it now.

‘I really need to find a way to extract and bottle his ridiculous luck, I’d make a fortune.’ Pidge grumbled but at least she was smiling.    


	6. Chapter 6

 When Lance opened his eyes, he found himself blinking up at an endless blue sky. It was beautiful and for a moment he thought he was back on Earth, floating on the ocean just like he used to before he left home.

Except he wasn’t bobbing on the gentle waves of the ocean right now and that was definitely solid ground at his back.

He groaned with the effort it took to push himself up and after blinking away the grogginess from his eyes, he looked around.

Well if waking up staring at the sky hadn’t clued him in, then his current surrounding confirmed it, he was outside. How and when had he got outside? He had no idea. He was sure he’d passed out after the ritual he’d accidently performed. Had they dumped him outside for that? They hadn’t seemed to want to, but maybe they changed their minds.

He took stock of his immediate surroundings, he was sitting in the middle of a walkway between two pools that glimmered under the suns, he reached over and dipped his fingers in, it was warm. The ground beneath him was smooth, made of a marble, and as it stretched out in front of him the marble, cracked and broken, met with grey stone.

Trees of purples, pinks and golds circled around him, leaving an opening directly in front of him where all he could see was more sky. The trees, and he was no expert, looked old, they were knarled and towering, and the branches had grown out to lock together like a makeshift ceiling that concentrated over the area just behind him.

He wandered briefly if they had grown that way or had been manipulated to look like that, he’d seen it on Earth, and had always wandered the same thing. And just like then the question fluttered away when he saw something a lot more interesting.

He stood and turned to where the branches coalesced into a dome like shape that acted as a roof for the giant rock throne.

Of course. A throne. Why not.

It was chiselled out of the rock, the beams of light that filtered through the branches of the tree made the gems and crystals that decorated it glisten, every colourful rock looking as if it had grown there naturally. Currently it was empty, but Lance wasn’t sure he wanted to meet the Org that throne was made for, it was huge.

He turned away from it and made his way to the opening between the trees, when the toe of his boot reached the edge he gasped as a wave of vertigo hit him and he took a hasty step back. Swallowing, he peeked his head over the edge and took a shuddering breath.

Wherever he was, it was high, like summit of a mountain high. How the heck did they even get him up here? But before he could panic – because how the cheese was he supposed to get down from here? – he took in the scene.

It was a sight to behold, laid out before him where two scenes, on one side was a forest of pink trees, spread out as far as the horizon. On the other side was a plain, dotted with trees and naturally formed rock formations that created interested shadows that stretched over the land as the suns sunk lower towards the horizon. The occasional glittering pools of water broke up the dry stretches of land and flourished with life.

And as beautiful as this was, something about it wasn’t right.

This was not the sight that had greeted Voltron when they’d surveyed the planet before landing.

Through Red’s eyes he’d seen a planet ravaged by the Galra. He’d seen looming purple structures impaling the planet’s surface, drilling, extracting, killing. He’d seen the scars of old mines that had run dry and been abandoned to fester. He’d seen what remained of forests, a sea of broken stumps and dried earth, trampled and flattened by the Galra’s carelessness.

He’d seen a planet on the verge of death.

‘I was beautiful once.’

Lance didn’t scream. No, that would have been embarrassing, instead he let out a manly yelp (no one could prove otherwise) and spun around to face the woman that had spoken.

On the throne of stone sat a woman twice the size of Ma Rhea’za, her giant form perfect for the seat as if carved specifically for her - it probably had been. She looked like an Org with pale grey skin, two small tusks stained with gold dust, and long thick hair that was braided but that was where the similarities ended.

Her hair was pure white and braided neatly, it was long enough that it disappeared under the large fur cloak. Her face was painted with markings, one that trailed down the centre of her forehead from under her hair line and branched out to line her brow, two others which framed her eyes trailed to the corners of her mouth, one more started under her bottom lip and went over her chin and down her neck, it too branched out to trace her collar bones and disappeared under her spaulders.

She wore pristine armour that glimmered, and Lance was pretty sure she was glowing.

‘I don’t know,’ Lance started, amazed he could keep himself steady despite how intimidating she was and how thrown he was by the whole situation, ‘you still look plenty beautiful to me.’

The Orgish woman barked out a raucous laugh, she slapped a hand down on the arm of the throne and pushed to her feet. And, oh, wow, she was a lot bigger then Lance had originally thought. She moved towards him.

As she got closer Lance could see things he missed from a distance, the skin around her neck and lower was littered with fissures that glowed red, like fire beneath her skin, her eyes, trained on him, were a startling shade of blue that put Allura’s to shame.

‘What a charmer.’ She drawled once she was in front of him, her smile faded into something wistful and then she was looking over him. Frowning, he turned to follow her gaze. She waved a hand and an invisible barrier shimmered, the scene that Lance had been admiring changed to something that he recognised.

The barren wasteland, littered with scars and galra machinery, the forest that had stretched further then he could see was reduced to half the size, and a large structure loomed over it all like a watchful overseer, ominous, like something from a nightmare. It filled Lance with trepidation just looking at it.

‘This form is just a projection to allow me to talk to you.' She explained. 'I am Gaia, and I, am the planet.’

Lance’s mouth dropped open and he stared at her, before looking over the landscape and then back again, in an effort to reconcile the two very different forms. There was still so much he didn’t understand and so many questions swirling through his mind.

‘So are you like a goddess or something?’ He asked, somewhat in awe.  

‘Or something.’ She answered. ‘To be a goddess would suggest my people worship me, our relationship is not like that, they are my children, born from the earth on my back, they care for me and they protect me and in return I make sure they are cared for but,’ she sighed, her eyes shimmering with unsurmountable pain, ‘I suffer, and so do they.’

Lance looked at the machinery the Galra used to mine the earth, the giant drills that dug deeper and widened the cracks, making the dry crust crumble and fissure to the break across the land, he winced as he thought about it.

‘You must be in so much pain.’ He murmured.

‘I am, and if this continues I will die, I cannot allow that to happen, I will not leave my children without a home.’ She said ardently. ‘My children have spent a long time protecting me and now it is my turn to protect them.’

‘Why am I here?’ He asked her. ‘Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?’

‘I cannot fight for them in the way that I would like.’ She admitted, as she watched Lance from the corner of her eyes. ‘I need a champion.’

A Champion? He frowned, still not really understanding, was he supposed to help her find someone worthy of being her champion because Lance really did have a lot on his plate, he wasn’t sure he had time to hold auditions for a champion, especially since he’d only met two Org’s so far.

And then Lance noticed Gaia watching him and understanding came all at once.

‘Ah, wait, you mean me.’

She inclined her head with a regal nod.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, I’m not really made of that champion stuff, I-I could introduce you to Keith or Shiro, once I free them, or Allura, she’s healed a whole planet before.’ He babbled nervously, keeping his gaze averted.

‘I already chose you, Lance Mcclain, I chose you the moment you entered my atmosphere, you are the first one in a long time that has an aura strong enough to channel me.’ Lance frowned. Channel her? 

‘What would being your champion entail exactly?’ He asked.

‘I would meld my Aura with yours, blessing you with powers to aid your cause, of course you would have to train with the druids to be able to harness them but it is the boon that I would grant in return for saving my children. You have already agreed to help Mor’ghan, by naming you my champion I am giving you a means to complete that task.’

Powers? What did that even mean? What the hell could Lance do that other’s couldn’t? He should decline, he wasn’t cut out to be the hero, a sidekick, sure, he was used to being one step behind after all but what was it that Mor’ghan and Gaia were seeing in him that Lance, who liked to think he knew himself quite well, couldn’t see.

‘Why not chose an Org, I’m an outsider.’ He asked her.

‘To be my champion, one’s aura must resonate with mine, only one before you has had such an aura and he’s gone, but now I have you and I see so much potential, you who were willing to give it all to save a wolf for the sake of the one you love.’ Lance’s face flushed red and he glanced away with a little pout.

‘No one said anything about love.’ He mumbled, embarrassed. ‘I’d do anything for any of my friends.’ He added.

‘I know.’ She said softly. ‘And I know that what I ask of you is a big task, you feel overwhelmed, scared, you feel like you’re not enough, but I’m not asking you to do this alone. If you accept my boon I will stand with you, my children will stand with you, we will be your might and you will be our hope.’ She lowered herself to her knees and Lance balked, he rushed forwards to stop her, feeling very awkward and very uncomfortable.

‘Don’t do that.’ He pleaded with a shaky voice.

‘I am asking you, please, save my children by saving me, be my champion, my vessel, my sword, be the beacon my people need and ignite their spirits once again.’ And she bowed her head.

‘Dammit, you don’t have to do this, I’m a paladin of Voltron, it’s my duty to help anyone in need.’

‘But I am not asking for Voltron, I’m asking for you, the price to pay will not be light, to become my champion is to link your life to the planet, you’ll feel my pain, my sorrow, my rage, you will feel so much that you may feel like you are losing yourself, it’s a lot to ask of an outsider, but it is my turn to protect them and I can’t do it alone.’

She looked at him – she was tall enough that kneeling just put them at eye level – and her eyes shimmered. To lower herself in such a way to some one like him was too much, and he understood her desperation, her desire to protect those she held dear because he held those same desires. Sighing in resignation, because it wasn’t like he had a choice, if he turned her away, he was dooming her planet, he was dooming her and the Orgs, he knelt too.

‘What do you need me to do?’ He asked gently. Surprise coloured her expression before melting into gratitude.

‘You truly are a selfless one, Lance, thank you and,’ she bit her lip and appeared quite apologetic, ‘I apologise for the discomfort you will feel, we will be sharing a consciousness to allow me to join our auras, once we have grown accustomed to one another I’ll be able to shield you from it but until then you will feel everything.’

Lance swallowed his nerves, he could handle some pain, he’s survived an explosion, being flung across space, being shot at by mystical white lions, knocked around by a Voltron on steroids, electrocuted by a radiation shield (although technically he hadn’t survived that one but he wasn’t dead anymore so he counted it as a win). He could get through this.

‘It’s fine, I’m ready.’ She looked sceptical but with a sigh she held out her hands. He placed his over hers and she wrapped her fingers around them, his hands looked tiny in her grasp. He peered up at her to find her already watching him.

‘As you did in the pools, I want you to open yourself up to me fully, give me the same trust you gave me then and I shall feed my aura into you.’ Lance nodded in assent and closed his eyes.

It was a lot harder to bare himself open like he had before, he was blinded by the need to save Kosmo, now he didn’t have the same focus so every time he felt that probing warmth push at him, he flinched. He licked his lips and frowned; he couldn’t stop recoiling from the gentle but invasive prodding in his mind. He tried to clear his thoughts, but Lance had always had trouble emptying his head, so instead he tried to relax, but then the push would grow firmer, and he’d clam up again.

Gaia was being patient with him, he could feel her trying to calm him with the pulsing waves of warmth at the back of his neck but he wasn’t sure that was helping now that he realised that that warmth that had invaded him in the caverns had been her all along.

The warmth flinched away guiltily, and Lance felt the need to apologize to it, to Gaia, he didn’t mean to act distrustful but consciously allowing someone to mess with his mystical bits was a bit nerve wracking.

And what of this pain he would no doubt feel? All the things that the Galra were doing to Gaia, thinking they were simply draining a quintessence rich planet, she must be in agony, right?

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The doubt came to him as it always did when he felt he was over his head. But if he didn’t do it, Gaia would continue to suffer until the Galra had drained everything she had.

He was a paladin of Voltron, it was his duty to save this planet. But he was also Lance Mcclain, and he wasn’t the sort of person that could turn his back on people that needed help. His mama had always said it was one of his best traits, though she had also warned him he could give too much of himself away trying to help everyone.

But sometimes, he just didn’t have a choice, he would save Gaia, he would save the Orgs and he would save his friends.

For them.

He held himself steady and breathed through the push and slide of a foreign heat under his skin, washing over him as if he had just submerged himself in sun warmed water. It spread slowly through his body, whispers filling his mind the further it travelled trough him, getting louder and louder. So many voices overlapping each other to make the words indistinguishable from one another.

What was this? One word seem to echo from the mess ‘please’. Where these pleas? prayers? Was this what Gaia heard? Her children calling for her to save them. If so, no wonder she’d been desperate enough to plead to him, how long had she been forced to listen to the cries of her inhabitants and not be able to do anything about it.

It was a form of torture Lance was sure would have destroyed him.

He let it all in, to alleviate some of her burden. _I’ll fight for them._ He told her. _I won’t let you down._ He promised.

_I know._

The response had been a whisper in his mind, quietening the rush of pleas that clogged his senses.

_It is done. I am with you._

Lance opened his eyes and found himself once again, alone. His hands were raised in front of him from where Gaia had been holding them, he let them fall limply to his side. Cautiously he got to his feet and gave himself a moment, when he didn’t crumble under the expected pain, he straightened with a confused frown.

_We are in an Astral plane, here you feel no pain, your body still slumbers under the Umbra woods with the druids._

He jumped a little from the voice in the back of his mind. Ok, so the voice in his head was a thing now. He really hoped he wasn’t going crazy.

‘How do I wake up?’ He asked, feeling a bit silly talking out loud to no one. A bubble of amusement that certainly didn’t belong to him, gave him the feeling that Gaia was laughing at him.

His attention was guided to the opening between the trees and he swallowed. He peeked over the edge, whimpered, then turned away. ‘Are you kidding me? There’s really no other way?’ He looked back over his shoulder then whipped his head back to the front with a stuttered breath. ‘Oh man. Ok. The only reason I’m choosing to believe you is because you need me alive.’

And then he let himself fall back.

He shot up with a choked gasp, his eyes frantically glancing around to find himself in a room, on a bed. Oh, thank Gaia!

But his relief was short lived. In his mind there was a stuttered apology and then he screamed. Pain. Like he’d never known before, pulsing, throbbing, burning. His skin felt like it was being torn apart. His mind was blank with pain but the whispered pleas were back and it was splitting his head in two, too loud. Too loud!

He convulsed, fire licking his insides, and charring him, he was certain if he looked he’d see his skin cracking and fire spilling through the fissures, like he’d seen on Gaia, except on her they’d looked elegant and natural, he was pretty sure he would look nothing like that.

He wouldn’t be surprised if his body was rejecting her boon because she’d been wrong, his aura wasn’t right, he wasn’t a champion, she’d chosen wrong, there was no other explanation, he was dying, burning alive, and all that would remain of him was a crackling husk.

Commotion around him forced him to open his eyes again, a white hooded person was leaning over him, hands pressed into his shoulders to pin him to the bed, he could see their mouth working frantically under their mask but he couldn’t hear them over cries in her… his… their head.

The white one looked over their shoulder and someone new charged into the room with a noticeable limp, they were tall, purple and decidedly Galra looking. Panic spiked and Lance screamed louder. They had him, he’d failed, he couldn’t save his friends, and he couldn’t save Gaia or Mor’ghan, or anyone.

He was useless.

The newcomer ripped through a pack in his hands and pulled out a syringe full of blue liquid. Lance squirmed harder under the white one’s grip but he was too riddled with pain to put up a good fight and all he could do was cry and whimper as the other one leant in, and plunged the syringe into the side of his neck.

A coolness swept over the point of entry but only for a moment, the fire was hotter, and he continued to burn but his mind turned sluggish, and the voices turned muted, as if his head had been submerged in water.

_I’m sorry guys,_ his thoughts turned to his friends, who had to be waiting for him, expecting him to come through for them. _I failed you._

‘Keith.’ He whispered, his eyes falling closed. _I didn’t mean to let you down._  

He welcomed the unconsciousness with a whimper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I hope that didn't seem rushed.   
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.


	7. Chapter 7

When Lance came to, he found himself submerged entirely in water. He took a moment to enjoy the gentle muted sounds and the weightlessness of floating before he was rudely reminded by the burn in his lungs that he needed to breathe.

He flailed for a moment, overcome with panic, because he was getting awfully tired of waking up in strange places, and how deep was he? Why was he underwater?

Turned out he wasn’t deep at all. As he flailed, he felt the ground brush his back and he pushed himself up, he immediately broke the surface and sucked in air only to start coughing as he accidentally inhaled a small amount of water.

As he coughed, he rubbed the water from his eyes, and then he pushed his hands up over his face and ran his fingers through his wet hair, slicking it back to stop water from dripping in his eyes.

Once he had himself under control he looked around. He was back in the healing pools. Or maybe he’d never left? He wasn’t sure. He thought he might have passed out, but his memory was a bit fuzzy on the details, he was pretty sure he’d been dreaming though.

He shivered, cold air touching his bare skin. He looked down at himself and frowned.

Why was he naked?

Now, it wasn’t the first time Lance had woken up naked with no memory of the night before, only alcohol had been heavily involved in those incidents; the circumstances this time were very different. Was he in some kind of trouble?

Why couldn’t he remember anything?

Behind him, he heard a splash off water, he jumped and slapped his hands down over his junk before turning to look over his shoulder.

Kosmo was wading through the water towards him and Lance relaxed with a relieved smile. Only his smile dropped when he finally noticed the small crowd gathered behind him at the edge of the pool.

Kosmo sat himself strategically between the two parties, his big body mostly covering Lance’s nudeness, Lance slowly turned his whole body around and buried himself in Kosmo’s fur, peeking over the top of him with a hot face.

Ma Rhea’za was kneeling at the edge of the pool, her head bowed, and her arms outstretched. It was only in the moment that Lance noticed the blue glow just before it faded, the same one that had healed Kosmo.

Had he been injured?

Behind her stood Kira, her body taut with anxiety, her arms were wrapped tightly around herself and by her side, with a hand on her shoulder, stood a Galran male.

A flash of a memory surfaced, and he frowned, it was layered in a harsh haze of panic, and he’d felt like he’d been dying.

Had that not been a dream?

Because if it hadn’t been then that meant…

_I’m sorry. I did not think our connection would be so strong._

He yelped when a voice, from seemingly nowhere, spoke. He looked around himself frantically, water splashing as he moved, and then back to the others gathered at the edge.

‘Who…? What… what’s going on?’ He asked with a shaky voice. ‘What happened?’

‘You tell us!’ Kira snapped, taking a step forwards so that she right on the edge of the pool. ‘You slept for like three suns, and then when you finally do wake up, you’re screaming bloody murder and thrashing around like you’re dying. What the heck, man?’

Lance frowned at her, and then he looked down at the water between him and Kosmo and found his reflection frowning back at him.

The pain. He could remember that now, but just barely, he knew it had been bad, he’d honestly felt as if he’d been dying, but recalling it didn’t bring about the same sense of doom, just a twinge of discomfort from the memory of it.

He wasn’t the one that was dying.

Gaia.

It had been her pain he felt.  

_I’m sorry._ He heard her whisper. He was shaking his head at his reflection.

‘No,’ He breathed, ‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.’ He assured her.

Lance’s head shot up when he heard someone else enter the water. Ma Rhea’za, had gotten to her feet in his distraction and was now stepping towards him. Lance watched her approach him until she came to a stop in front of him. She lowered herself to her knees again and for a moment Lance was reminded of Gaia, lowering herself to plead with him. He bit his lip anxiously.

Ma Rhea’za reached over Kosmo and with her fingers under his chin she gently tilted Lance’s head up so she could look him in the eyes. Her eyes darted between his before she seemed to find what she was looking for.

‘Gaia?’ She asked so softly that Lance was sure he was the only one that could hear her. He stared for a moment, feeling Gaia’s warmth stir with acknowledgement, it guided his head as he nodded slowly. ‘I see.’ Ma Rhea’za sighed.

Her hand dropped from his chin to rest on his shoulder, she squeezed it slightly in what he thought might have been meant as a gesture of reassurance before she patted it and lifted it away. She stood and faced the others, Lance completely shielded by her body.

‘T’seran, send a message to the clan representatives.’ Ma Rhea’za ordered to one of the cloaked Org’s standing at the edge of the pool. ‘Tell them, that Gaia has chosen a new champion.’

A series of gasps echoed across the cavern, and the one that had been addressed by Ma Rhea’za, T’seran, paused in surprise before quickly nodding her head and making her way swiftly from the room.

A moment of silence passed over them before the tall Galran at Kira’s side sighed heavily.

‘Perhaps,’ He drawled, ‘someone could explain what is happening to the non-orgs present because I’m a little lost.’

‘It would seem that our newcomer has been chosen by the planet to be her champion, a privilege that has only been extended to one other before him.’ Ma Rhea’za explained, she turned back to Lance and removed her fur cloak, she draped the heavy material over his shoulders, and gratefully he pulled it further around himself to cover his nakedness.

‘What did she ask of you?’ Ma Rhea’za asked him. He swallowed back his nerves and with a shaky breath he answered.

‘To save her.’

Her eyes widened and then they closed, she inhaled slowly and exhaled just as slow.

‘She suffers?’ She asked, looking pained as she waited for Lance’s answer.

‘Yeah.’ He admitted, it was no good lying to her to save her from the truth, he was starting to see just how strong a bond the Org’s and Gaia shared, Gaia had called them her children after all.

‘The connection formed between you allowed you to feel her pain, with her guidance we brought you here and performed a salving ritual, it is not a permanent solution, I am afraid to admit, but it will offer temporary relief, once the affects begin to fade we will perform the ritual again.’

‘I wouldn’t want to put you out or anything, you said doing things like this required an exchange?’ Lance would do anything never to feel that pain again but he didn’t want anyone hurting because of him.

‘Gaia never takes unwillingly, for the bond to have formed between you, you would have had to have accepted her, which means you agreed, despite being an outsider with nothing to gain from this, to save her.’ He eyes softened. ‘You agreed to share her burden and her suffering. Why?’

‘Because it was the right thing to do.’ He answered immediately. ‘She said she could only choose someone whose Aura resonated with hers, if I declined, then who else could she ask?’

Ma Rhea’za smiled warmly, transforming her face from intimidating to something that made Lance feel suddenly quite homesick.

‘The price of the exchange is small in comparison to what you have given us, I am beginning to believe that Mor’ghan was right about you, for the first time, in a long time, I am feeling,' she paused, as if she was tasting the word first, 'hopeful.’      

Lance was still surprised his presence could affect people the way it seemed to be affecting Mor’ghan and Ma Rhea’za, he didn’t understand it at all, but he was glad he could offer something regardless, he just hoped he wouldn’t let them down.

‘Can you walk?’ Ma Rhea’za asked. He was uncertain if he could but nodded anyway. ‘Good, Kira and Krillan will look after you until it is time for the meeting.’

Meeting? ‘Ok.’ He offered weakly.

With Kosmo’s help he got to his feet, Ma Rhea’za waited patiently for him and accompanied him to the edge of the pool where she offered him a hand up, he thanked her and with a sharp nod of acknowledgement, she left him with Kira and… Krillan?

Kira had her arms crossed haughtily across her chest and was tapping her foot against the floor, the Galran looked far more relaxed, with a cocked hip and hands stuffed in pockets.

‘I guess we haven’t been formally introduced yet,’ The Galran said, he pulled a hand free and held it up to Lance. ‘I’m Krillan, Kira’s uncle.’ Lance pushed a hand through the opening of the fur cloak and shook his hand.

‘Lance.’

‘Nice to meet you. Now how about we find you something to wear, and something to eat before this meeting, yeah?’ Krillan offered kindly. At the mention of food, Lance was reminded how long ago it was since he last ate and then he remembered something else.

‘Wait, how long was I unconscious for?’ He asked Kira. She tutted.

‘Three quintants.’ She spat. Lance frowned at the venom in her tone, but she didn’t explain, she turned on the spot and left, leaving Lance alone with Krillan and Kosmo.

‘Ah, I wouldn’t worry about that,’ he offered light-heartedly, Lance frowned up at him. ‘She was worried about you and she’s not used to being scared for someone.’

‘Oh, sorry?’ Lance offered distractedly because he had just learned he’d been sleeping for three days, and that was three days wasted, he really hoped the others were Ok.  

‘Don’t mind it, it’s not like you asked for any of this.’ Krillan must have mistaken the crease in his brow as concern over Kira, Lance didn’t bother correcting him.

Lance looked up at Krillan curiously, now that he was closer and wasn’t befuddled by pain, there was something about him that struck him as familiar. He was tall, as most Galra were, but he had a slim build, his skin was purple and he had deep blue markings trailing up over both sides of his jaw. His hair was short, fading from purple to black and his eyes were…

Krillan’s smiling demeanour shifted to confused as Lance continued to stare.

‘Everything… ok?’ He asked. Lance shook himself free of the feeling of familiarity.

‘You look familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.’ Lance admitted. Krillan’s eyebrows rose in surprise before offering him an easy smile and small shrug.

‘I’m sure it’ll come to you.’ He placated, patting Lance on the shoulder. ‘Come on. I wouldn’t put it past Kira to eat all the food just to spite you.’ Once again Lance was reminded that he was hungry and eagerly followed Krillan.

Krillan limped to the opening of the cavern and grabbed up a crutch, he smiled wryly at Lance. ‘Old leg injury, lucky to still have the thing though so I can’t complain too much.’

Lance smiled sympathetically and together they left the cavern, with Kosmo close at his heel.

For a little while they walked in companionable silence, though Krillan kept stealing looks at him every so often, Lance kept his own eyes forward until Krillan finally said something.

‘So is, uh, Keith a common name on Earth?’ He asked. Lance frowned before sliding his gaze sideways to look at Krillan who was trying too hard to look casual. That was a strange question to ask.

‘I guess… why do you ask?’ Lance asked, suspiciously.

‘Oh, no particular reason,’ Krillan laughed off, Lance still watched him with narrowed eyes though. ‘You said the name before you fell unconscious again, so I was just curious.’ If that were the case he would have asked ‘who was Keith?’ The questioned almost made it sound like he knew a Keith and wondered if it might be the same one.

And then Lance realised what Krillan had said and flushed red.

‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’ He lied. ‘Why would I say Keith’s name when I thought I was dying, he’s definitely not the last person I’d want to think about or anything like that.’ He rambled.

Krillan arched a brow in amusement as he watched Lance flounder.

‘I sense that I may have stumbled onto some unresolved issues, I’m sorry for asking.’

Lance glanced away with a pout.

Lance quickly learned that Krillan was a chatty guy, he was quick to joke and had a wicked sense of humour, since all the Galra that Lance had met up until this point had been serious and stoic, it was actually quite refreshing to see that the whole race wasn’t like that.

But he was having a hard time imagining this guy mingling with the other members of the Blade of Marmora.

They eventually made it back to the den, though now that Lance was getting a proper look from the outside, it was clear to see that at one point this had been a ship. Through patches of roots and dirt he could make out the purple highlights that marked a Galran vessel. He had so many questions about this.

‘How did you guys end up here anyway?’ Lance asked, his gaze drifting over the entrance way that slid open for them slowly before he turned to look at Krillan. Krillan tilted his head and hummed in thought.

‘How about we get you some clothes and some food and I’ll explain what I can, Kira has already told me that you know about the Blade – which I have questions about by the way – but it does means that I can tell you a bit about us.’

That seemed reasonable, He was pretty hungry and very conscious of the fact that he was in fact still naked. He tucked the furs closer to himself self-consciously.

He followed Krillan in and he directed Lance into one room and disappeared into another to get Lance some clothes.

Only Lance didn’t get very far into the other room before freezing solid.

Krillan wasn’t wrong about Kira eating all the food, she sat hunched over the table shovelling food into her mouth with an aggression that was quite frankly impressive. But what had Lance freezing was that to eat her food she had removed her mask and hood and this was the first time Lance had seen her without them.

Breaking free of his shock he reeled back and pointed at her, stumbling over his words as he shouted at her in surprise. All the while she watched him with a bored expression, her cheeks puffed out as she slowly chewed on her food.

‘You… you’re – what the heck! – you’re human?!’ He shrieked.   


	8. Chapter 8

Kira, still chewing her food, continued to stare at Lance like he’d lost his mind. And maybe he had a little because no matter how long he stared back, she continued to look human. Pale skin, and a slender face, her hair was black and mostly short except for the long braid that sat over her shoulder and the thick bangs that covered her forehead.

There was something about the way her dark brows sat over her grey eyes that abruptly reminded Lance of…

‘Close your mouth, you look stupid.’ She drawled, once she swallowed down her mouthful, she waved a fork in his direction and scowled. ‘And what of it? You’re human too, it isn’t that big of a deal.’

‘Not that big of a deal?!’ Lance squawked. Light years away from Earth, meeting other humans wasn’t exactly something he’d been expecting. This was a big stinking deal. Were there other humans roaming around space? Were Shiro, Matt and Sam not the first ones to make it past Kerboros? ‘It’s a huge deal!’ He exclaimed.

Looking over Kira now, she looked young, how young must she have been when she left Earth?

‘How did you even end up out here?’ He asked, bewildered.

‘On Gaia?’ She asked with a tilted head.

‘In space?’

Understanding seemed to dawn on Kira’s face, her mouth opened with a soft ahh and she shrugged.

‘I wasn’t born on Earth.’ She stated with a guarded expression, she turned back to her food and jabbed angrily at it with her fork. Her shoulders jumped up as if she was just realising something, she spun around with an irritated expression on her face, pointing the fork back at him. ‘None of that is important right now, I’m angry at you.’

‘Why?’ He asked with genuine confusion. She threw her hands up in the air with a huff.

‘Because!’ Was the sulky response, and then she turned back to her food with a petulant little huff. Lance gaped at her back, frustration rising but before he could snap, he took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was now an adult. He wouldn’t allow himself to rise to this kind of… oh who was he kidding! He scowled at her back and mouthed ‘because’ petulantly before sticking his tongue out at her.

And without looking back at him Kira said. ‘I will cut your tongue off.’

‘Now, now kids, settle down.’ Krillan interrupted, he came into the room and propped his crutch up against the wall by the door, and then he gestured to a folded pile of clothes in his hands, with a smile of thanks, Lance took them from him and brought them to his chest. ‘You can get changed in that room to the left.’ Krillan looked over to the table where Kira was still angrily swiping at her food like it had personally offended her and smiled apologetically. ‘I’ll try to salvage some food for you.’ With a nod, Lance turned away to leave but stopped when Krillan grabbed his upper arm. He jerked his head in Kira’s direction and with a wry smile he said. ‘Don’t forget what I said.’ And then he let go and Lance hesitated a moment before offering a tight nod and leaving to get changed.

Kosmo followed him in before the door closed behind him and Lance came to a stop. He pressed his back against the door and slid down until he met the floor, his gaze shifted to Kosmo, who had closed the distance and pressed his body against Lance’s. He took the comfort and draped an arm around Kosmo’s neck and pressed his face into the warm fur.

Despite all the sleep he appeared to have gotten – three days, geez – he felt drained, so many things had happened one after the other and he hadn’t really had the time to stop and think about it all. Separating from the team, meeting Mor’ghan, saving Kosmo, meeting Gaia, becoming her champion… it had been only four days, and he’d been asleep for three of them!

‘What the quiznack am I supposed to do?’ Lance whispered to Kosmo, who could only whine in response, he shuffled closer and Lance’s hold tightened. It was too much; he’d agreed to too much because Lance just can’t say no. But how could he? He was a paladin of Voltron and these people, this Planet, needed Voltron.

And until he saved his friends, he was all they had.

‘I think they got the short end of the stick.’ He commented with a humourless laugh.

The heat at his neck turned hot and Lance slapped a hand over it with a yelp, it faded just as quickly as it had appeared, but he got the impression that Gaia had expressed her frustration.

‘I’m sorry, chosen or not, it doesn’t wipe away a lifetime’s worth of insecurities.’ A softer pulse of warmth and Lance chuckled. ‘Yeah, I’m working on it.’

He offered Kosmo a grateful pet before getting back to his feet, he picked up the clothes he’d dropped and placed them on the nearby table. He let Ma Rhea’za’s cloak fall from his shoulders and shivered when air met his bare skin. He dressed quickly, not thinking too hard about who had undressed him, why they’d undressed him or how much they’d seen.

The soft linen tunic was obviously made for someone bigger than him, the collar was wide across his shoulders, the hem came to his mid-thigh, and he had to roll the sleeves up, rolling them up until they were half way up his forearms.

He shook the trousers out before putting them on, tanned leather and kind of stiff, and again, made for someone bigger, he tightened the corded belt to hold them up on his narrow hips, and rolled the pant legs up over his calves.

He made sure to fold Ma Rhea’za’s heavy cloak and placed it on the table.

With a heavy sigh, he smiled at Kosmo. He didn’t have time to mope, this wasn’t one of those times where he could hide away and feel sorry for himself. An entire planet was bonded with him, and she sure as hell wasn’t giving him the opportunity to doubt himself.

She swelled in agreement and he supposed he was actually kind of grateful he now had someone who could actively pull him out of one of his self-depreciating spirals.

His problems paled in comparison to the situation he was in, that the Orgs were in. He liked to think by this point he was quite good at shoving aside his own problems to focus on others, so he pushed his doubts down into that box he had inside himself and sat on the trembling lid of overflowing insecurities.

In time he would unbox all of it and untangle the mess but for now, he just didn’t have the time.

By the time he’d gathered himself to leave the room the party of two that had been waiting for him and grown to three and Lance found himself smiling widely.

‘Mor’ghan!’ He cheered. Despite their meeting, Lance had taken a strong liking towards the Org, he had a presence, once he wasn’t aiming an axe at you, that was kind of soothing.

Mor’ghan was sat at the table, his form comically big in the small space. He smiled warmly at Lance and waved.

‘Lance.’ He greeted. ‘I’m glad to see you have finally awoken.’

‘Yeah,’ Lance offered hesitantly, taking a seat opposite him and next to Kira, ‘a lot of stuff happened.’

‘Rhea’za has kept me informed of your situation.’ Mor’ghan laughed loudly. ‘I believed fate brought you here, and it turns out that Gaia herself has been guiding your feet.’ He reached across the table and dropped a large hand over Lance’s shoulder, Lance lilted to the side slightly from the sudden weight. ‘I knew there was something special about you.’

He looked so certain, his eyes gleaming with a fierce pride that had Lance feeling a little taken aback. He still didn’t understand what they saw in him.

‘How can you be so sure of that? You barely know me.’ Lance asked, he quickly dropped his gaze to the food in front of him. Normally he was good at keeping that box lid sealed, letting people only see the cocky, go lucky attitude, but it seemed a lot harder to hide when he didn’t have a team of strong people to hide behind.

Lance was on his own now and if he failed, the repercussions would be irreversible.

It was hard to find anything to laugh about right now.

‘Your aura.’ Mor’ghan stated, his hand lifted from Lance’s shoulder and instead he placed them both on the table and pressed his fingers together. Lance looked up, confused. ‘Buried under the shadows of your insecurities I saw glimpses of something bright and strong and when you made the decision not to kill me in the forest that day, I was blinded by it.’

‘Some Org’s have an innate ability to sense aura’s,’ Krillan explained, ‘or as we know it, quintessence, so if Mor’ghan, Ma Rhea’za and Gaia say your Aura is top tier stuff, I’d be inclined to believe them.’

‘It’s true, those of us with the ability can see into your heart and we see someone that has great potential, someone that believes in his convictions and would do anything for the people he cares for, but you must also start believing in yourself, once you open yourself up to the possibilities, I believe that you could be unstoppable.’

‘You know,’ Lance laughed wetly, ‘you really know how make a guy feel good about himself.’ He joked. ‘I’m sorry, I’m being super lame, I’m usually not this bad but then I’ve never been giving this kind of a responsibility before so I’m kind of panicking.’ He explained.

‘You’re a paladin of Voltron.’ Kira said suddenly and Lance frowned at her.

‘Voltron is a team.’ He shot back. ‘Five lions, five minds, we’re stronger together. But even then, my teammates are all pretty strong individually. I’m kind of the jack of all trades guy, but the master of none, at least I think that’s how the saying goes.’ He smiled and shrugged in a way that said _what can you do_ and pretended, like always, that it didn’t bother him.

‘Better than being a master of only one thing.’ Kira said, putting her elbow on the table and resting her face in the palm of her hand, her upper body angled to face him.

It seemed she was no longer mad at him.

‘You keep complaining about how you’re not good enough for this, that or the other, but I imagine Voltron wasn’t a ‘apply for position’ kind of situation?’

‘No, our lions chose us.’ He said cautiously, not sure where she was going with this.  

‘So you were chosen by Voltron, and now you’ve been chosen by Gaia.’ She listed. ‘Insecurities or not, those are two very powerful entities that think that You. Are. Enough.’ She finished pointedly, satisfied that her point had been made. She straightened up and threw him a smirk, her brow arched up playfully.

‘And your forgetting the best part, Mr I’m-not-good-enough, or have you forgotten that your aura is on the same level as that of an entire planet.’   

Lance might have marvelled and gloated about that had he not been left winded by the startling resemblance she had to Keith, the eyes, the smirk… the attitude. Just who was Kira, and where the heck had she come from? His gaze darted to Krillan, reminded of his interest in the Keith that Lance had mentioned in his delirium, then back to Kira, a human with connections to the Blade and a Galran uncle.

Kira’s smirk softened into a confused one as Lance gaped silently at her, but what could he say, he had a million different theories running through his mind, all of them settling on one conclusion.

He focused on Krillan again, who was leaning forwards slightly in concern, but stopped short when Lance’s concentrated gaze landed on him, his brows crawled up in surprise and caution.

‘Why did you really ask about Keith?’ He demanded. Krillan darted a quick look at Kira, who was looking between them with widened eyes.

‘Curiosity.’

‘Cause like I said it’s a common name.’ He said again.

‘Yeah.’ Krillan was trying for casual but Lance could see the tension in the line of his body. He narrowed his eyes.

‘So I guess it wouldn’t be of any interest to you to know that _my_ Keith,’ He ignored the fluttering feeling in his belly at calling Keith ‘his’ in any way, ‘is a human/Galra hybrid.’ He sat back, crossed his arms and waited. He didn’t want to say too much, because if his wild suspicions were even remotely true, then this was Keith’s business.

What he’d want to share was completely up to him, not Lance.

Krillan, no doubt from years of experience with the Blade, barely revealed a thing, but Lance liked to think he was good at reading people, so when Krillan’s hands moved together over the table and he interlocked his fingers, Lance watched the way he tapped his thumbs together and licked his lips as he got ready to try and throw Lance off with a lie.

‘That is interesting.’ He said, nodding slowly. ‘Plenty of Galra hybrids exist in secret of course, but humans are still a pretty unknown species to us.’ Not entirely a lie then, but he was definitely trying to draw him away from the topic of Keith.

Lance jabbed a thumb in Kira’s direction.

‘She looks plenty human to me, I’m willing to bet she’s part Galra too, you know, with you being her uncle and all, and being a part of the Blades of Marmora.’

Krillan falls back against his chair and he’s frowning now.

‘I am sensing some hostility in the air.’ Mor’ghan interrupted, he was leaning forwards, obviously contemplating whether he should be breaking something up. Kira was watching her uncle, frowning and looking a little lost by the exchange. Maybe she didn’t know? Lance could be entirely wrong about the whole thing but the coincidences were compelling, now that Lance could see the visual similarities between Kira and Keith, he couldn’t unsee it.

‘No hostility here my friend.’ Krillan smiled widely, he patted Mor’ghan on the arm reassuringly. ‘Right?’ He aimed at Lance.

Lance smiled in return.

‘I’m sorry, I can be very protective of my friends,’ he offered coyly before meeting Krillan’s gaze again. ‘I just want to make sure that no one is out to hurt them.’

‘I have no desire to hurt your friends.’ Krillan assured. Lance believed him but… he gave Kira a pointed glance before returning Krillan’s stare, he glanced at her too and smiled reassuringly when she frowned in question.

‘There are plenty of ways of hurting a person, and he’s been hurt enough.’ Lance warned. Because he was warning Krillan. If his intentions were less than the best for Keith then Rok’oth and his empire buddies weren’t the only ones that needed to watch out. Understanding dawned on Krillan’s face with a soft ‘ah’ and his smile softened to something friendly again.

‘I understand, and I vow that hurting him is the last thing I want to do.’

‘I believe you.’ Lance finally said after a moment of tense silence.

‘He’s very lucky to have someone like you watching his back.’ Krillan commented with a sly smile. Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. Because watching Keith’s back is all he’s ever done, never able to catch up, always one or ten steps behind.

But it did mean that Keith’s back would never be left unguarded as long as Lance was around.

‘So is anyone going to tell me what the quiznack that was all about?’ Kira snapped, looking between them in frustration.

‘Oh it was nothing,’ Krillan waved off with a chuckle, ‘Org’s are not the only ones that are fiercely protective of their mates it seems.’ He teased.

Lance’s face flushed hot at the insinuation that he and Keith were… that they had… urgh! What was he so flustered for anyways?

‘I did not know that one of the captives was your mate.’ Mor’ghan straightened and offered Lance a sympathetic look. ‘I understand your feelings, my own mate is imprisoned, as are many other mates of Org’s that are forced to work under Rok’oth, it is the only way he can keep us to heel. I’ll will do what I can to ensure your mate remains unharmed until you can be reunited.’ Mor’ghan promised.

Lance remembered Mor’ghan mentioning it before and grimaced, embarrassed, Lance could only nod, it felt too awkward to explain to him now that his and Keith’s relationship wasn’t like that, but it was kind of reassuring to know that Mor’ghan could keep Keith safe until Lance could save them.

He still didn’t know how he was going to do that though.

A pulse of warmth and a whispered reassurance in the back of his mind had Lance remembering that he wasn’t alone now. He still wasn’t sure what being Gaia’s champion actually entailed but he hoped that it would give him the power to save his friends.

He was pulled from his thought by a knocking on the metal door to the den.

‘It would seem Rhea’za and the representatives are ready for us.’ Mor’ghan announced. Lance stomach twisted violently with nerves and he looked down at his plate of food mournfully.

Damn, he’d forgotten to eat


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took a little longer to write then I anticipated, a few minor illnesses really does a number on my ability to combine words in a coherent way.   
> But back to business so please enjoy this next chapter.

The chamber they were taken to was another cavernous room, at the centre of it was a rounded rock slab resting on several jagged pieces of rock that protruded from the ground, making it look like a table.

And around the room, tension thick in the air, where five Orgs, all as imposing as the other. Three sat at the table with Ma Rhea’za, talking amongst themselves in hushed voices.

On one side of the room stood a tall female with a thick mane of black hair, standing straight, her keen eyes watched over the Orgs at the table. Her armour of silver plate glistened, even in the darkened room as if it had a magic of its own. The winged shoulder pads where lined with jewels of various colours that seemed to emit their own light.

And she had a massive spear, that Lance was sure might have been twice his size, strapped to her back.  

She had a helm held loosely between her arms and hip and her eyes snapped to look at Lance when they entered the room. Lance looked away quickly and peeked at the other Org on the opposite side of the room.

In direct contrast to the female’s light pristine armour, this Org’s armour was blackened and heavy looking, wrought Iron covered him from his shoulders to his feet, he looked menacing and was easily the most intimidating Org he’d met yet.

He was scowling heavily, eyes already on Lance.

Lance was trying very hard to resist the urge to hide behind Mor’ghan.

Ma Rhea’za looked over the shoulder of the Org she was talking to, finding Lance and his companions, she offered them an easy smile and stood. All the Org’s in the room were now focused on Lance, he laughed nervously and took a tiny step back.

Mor’ghan placed a steadying hand on Lance’s shoulder and Lance took a deep breath and offered Mor’ghan a grateful smile.

‘Is this truly him?’ The lady Org with the shiny armour strode forward until she stood over Lance, her eyes narrowed on him, he swallowed nervously and waited. She clicked her tongue and looked over her shoulder at Ma Rhea’za, clearly unimpressed. ‘He is tiny, Rok’oth would tear him to pieces.’

‘The size of his body does not equate to the size of his aura.’ Ma Rhea’za stated in his defence… at least he thought she was defending him; no, she was also calling him small. He pouted. ‘Gaia has chosen him as her champion.’

‘But he is so skinny and vulnerable looking.’ She argued, eyeing him up and down. Now Lance really wanted to protest, he wasn’t that skinny, he had some muscle, in places, so what if he wasn’t buff like Shiro or strong like Hunk, he was… tall! He was tall.

‘Actually, I’m considered tall amongst my race,’ He interjected, he gestured at her with a hand ‘you guys are just really big.’ He nodded to himself, satisfied he’d made his point. Everyone stared at him blankly and maybe this wasn’t the time for it. ‘Just saying.’ He added with a small pout, he crossed his arms and looked away.

‘If it makes you feel better, sure.’ Mor’ghan offered amicably. It did not make him feel better. ‘But I have seen your friends and some of them appear more…’ He hesitated and Lance sighed.

‘You can say it, they’re muscly… wait.’ Lance looked up at Mor’ghan with wide eyes. ‘You’ve seen my friends?’

‘Oh.’ Mor’ghan made a startled expression and then a sheepish one. ‘I must have forgotten to mention it. On the last sun, Rok’oth visited them. As part of his guard,’ Mor’ghan said _Guard_ with a level of disdain, ‘I accompanied him. He told them that he had killed you.’ Lance went cold, horror creeping up as he thought about how his team must be feeling about his supposed death.  

‘He did what? Why?’ He asked, feeling winded.

‘To crush their spirits. But I lingered after Rok’oth left and I hinted that he had lied, I believe that they understood me.’ Relief swept back in and he sagged a little under the weight of it.

‘Are they ok? Were any of them hurt?’

‘No, apart from a few bruises they were relatively unharmed.’

‘Good, that’s… good.’ They were ok, and if he was understanding Org days right then a sun meant a day, so that was only yesterday.

‘I’m glad to hear your friends are ok Lance, but perhaps we could continue.’ Ma Rhea’za said.

‘Oh, yeah, of course, continue away. I think we were talking about how weak and puny I was.’

Krillan snorted, but composed himself quickly.

‘I am not wrong.’ The female Org barked, ‘what are you supposed be able to do with arms so breakable?’

‘I’m the Sharpshooter of the team, as long as these arms can hold a gun then it doesn’t matter, they’ll be dead before they can reach me.’ He boasted. He was insecure about a lot of things, but his ability to shoot straight, was not one of them.

‘You can’t always rely on one thing.’

‘True, but if I ever need help, I have my team, because I know it’s ok to rely on my friends when I need to.’

She glared down at him, frustration lining the edge her clenched jaw.

‘You know nothing of Gaia’s suffering.’ She spat, venom laced in every word. ‘You are an outsider wading in on our struggle, hoping for glory and accolade, but do I need to remind you that you have no team, they’ve already been captured by Rok’oth’s lot. What good are you if you have no one to help you? What good are you to us?’

It was like she was reading all of his insecurities off a cue card and stabbing her long polearm into them. They stared at each other, neither of them willing to back off. Eventually, Lance shrugged his shoulders, he met at least one person that felt the same on every planet they helped.

He waited for the thundering in his heart to settle before he responded, not wanting to sound shaken or wounded.

‘I am a paladin of Voltron and it’s my duty to protect the universe,’ He said as calmly as possible and with as much certainty as he could muster, eyes locked with the Org glaring down at him, ‘as it happens, Gaia herself has asked for my help, I am here to save my friends and save this planet, saving your people is an added bonus.’

Her expression turned flinty.

‘And why you? Why has Gaia chosen you? What makes you so special that she wouldn’t chose one of her own?’

And Lance now understood where all the hostility was coming from. These people devoted their lives to protecting Gaia, and he, a complete outsider, appeared out of no where and get's chosen. He already knew the answer, Gaia wanted to protect all of her children, Lance was an outsider and that probably made it easier for Gaia to use him, if things went wrong, no biggie, in this situation Lance was expendable. 

_No!_

The abrupt sound startled him and he flinched. A swell of anger surged forwards and Lance was rocked by it, he wasn’t sure that was his own but it transformed his face from carefully blank to furious anyway and he found himself straightening his back and adding as much height as he could, not even close to matching the Org’s height but still, it made him feel better.

And now he felt as if he were in the backseat of his own body, watching out, his lips were moving and he’s talking but his voice is layered with another, more feminine one.

Gaia.  

‘The pride of the Org’s has always been a flaw I’ve over-looked but now it is proving to be our fall, the more you spurn the outside universe the more isolated we become, the Galra have taken advantage of this.’ His countenance softens and Lance numbly observes the affection that simmered below the annoyance. ‘His aura resonated so profoundly with mine that I reached out with what energy I had left, I couldn’t let him leave, I needed him to help me save you, because after all this time, it is my turn to protect you.’

And as suddenly as Lance had been shoved to the back of his own head he was thrust back into the pilot seat and he was struck by a wave of nauseating vertigo. He took a few unsure breaths, as if he had momentarily forgotten how to do it and blinked stupidly around himself before stumbling backwards. Mor’ghan was there to catch him, holding Lance up by an elbow.

That was Gaia, she had assumed control of his body and that didn’t feel right, his stomach rolled, oh no, he definitely didn’t like that at all.

_I’m sorry, I should have asked first._

‘I-it’s alright, but m-maybe let’s not do that again, unless we really have to.’ He said aloud, stammering as he regained control of his tongue.

She hummed in acceptance and Lance took a deep breath.

‘What just happened?’ Kira asked, peering at Lance cautiously, she looked around the room waiting for an answer.

‘That was Gaia,’ Ma Rhea’za explained, she remained seated at the table, the two that had been with her were both in position of half standing, eyes glued to Lance wide and wary, but she was a picture of ease amongst them. ‘Your Aura’s are bonded now, you are not only her Champion, Lance, but also her vessel, she will wield you as she needs in exchange for the powers you will harness being bonded to her.’

‘I know.’ He said, he offered Mor’ghan a wan smile before stepping away on shaky legs. ‘I know what it entails to be her champion, I’ve been in this gig long enough to know there’s always a risk involved, whether it’s death or losing myself, and I said yes, just like I said yes when the Blue lion chose me to be her Paladin, and just like I’ll always say yes because helping people is what I do, it’s what I’ve always done.’ At what cost, he’s not sure, but he’s not willing to change that side of him, it can’t be a bad thing to want to help people.

‘Gaia wants to save you,’ Lance addressed the Org who had been challenging him, she was staring at him with wide eyes. ‘this wasn’t about who was most worthy of her, I’m not better than you, or stronger, I just happened to have the right Aura.’ He smiled wryly. ‘She needed a body, I happen to have one.’ He gestured down at himself. ‘In exchange I get cool powers which I can use to save my friends and save Gaia which in turn saves you.’ He pointed at her.

She looked down at his finger and growled.

‘Oh be calm Li’rana.’ The iron heavy Org grumbled from the wall. He moved to joined them and up closer his presence was even more intimidating. ‘You heard Gaia herself, she may have spoken through the mouth of this one, but you saw the same thing as all of us. Gaia has acted and that means Rok’oth’s day of reckoning is coming.’ He looked down at Lance as Li’rana scoffed and stormed off to sulk by the wall she’d originally been standing beside.

‘I’m willing to give you a chance, small one, if it is by Gaia’s will, but Rok’oth, despite his dishonourable and cowardly actions, is no easy enemy, he once stood as one of the Chieftain’s honoured champions, famed for his strength and ferocity, and Li’rana is not wrong, you are… compact.’

Before Lance could say anything Ma Rhea’za interrupted.

‘He will be trained, of course, by us druids and by the shamans, I had hoped that you or Li’rana would offer him some combat training, but it seems Li’rana may not be so amendable to the idea.’ In answer Li’rana curled her lip and turned her head away.

‘I would be willing, let us just hope I do not accidentally crush him under the weight of my hammer.’ It’s then that Lance noticed the giant hammer strapped to his back, he barely held back the distressed sound at the back of his throat.

He might die.

‘I am Ur’gora, from the Ironsmiths clan, we are born from Gaia’s flames and forged by her will. And I shall introduce Li’rana, since her pride has been wounded and is acting like an Orgling,’ He threw the comment over his shoulder and Li’rana bared her teeth. Ur’gora just laughed ‘She hails from the Battle Maidens Clan, they are Gaia’s wrath, and are known as Gaia’s most vicious warriors.’

From the table, one of the unknown Org’s stood to his full height, he was slimmer than all the other Orgs Lance had met, and judging by the white beard and wrinkled face he was older too. He bowed his head slightly in greeting to Lance, who awkwardly reciprocated with a quick jerk of his head.

‘I am Hel’oras and I am from the Sages clan, we are the keepers and wardens of all Gaia’s history, we are her wisdom.’

The last Orc was another female, she stood taller than both Ma Rhea’za and Li’rana, she wore a long woven robe and had a thick mace at her hip, but the most striking thing about her were the orbs that floated just above her head, spinning in a slow circle.

An Orb of fire that flickered with gentles flames, an orb of water that changed shape as it turned, an orb of earth that would break apart and then fuse back together seamlessly, and then an orb that look like a small cyclone. He watched them turn for a moment, mesmerised by the display.

‘I am Sha’rah and I am of the Shaman clan, we are attuned to Gaia’s elements and maintain the delicate balance that sustain us, we are her body.’

‘And,’ Ma Rhea’za said next, ‘I am the Chieftess of the druid clan, we listen to the voice of the land, and see the heart of all things, we are Gaia’s heart.’

This was a lot of awesome information, trouble was Lance was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by it all so when they all stared at Lance like they expected him to say something profound, he panicked.

‘Neat.’

He immediately closed his eyes and mentally cursed at himself, he was currently their planets host, and he was acting like a dumb kid. What must they think of him? He steeled himself and slipped on his self-assured mask and recalled every bit of diplomatic training Allura had drilled into him. 

‘I mean, that I look forward to learning from all of you and I hope that I can live up to Gaia’s, and your, expectations.’ There, that was less dumb, and totally something Allura would be proud of him for.

But from her place against the wall Li’rana snorted, Lance winced at the harsh sound and eyed her with unease in his belly.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard considering our expectation are low.’ She glared at Lance. ‘Very low.’ Lance swallowed back the hurt and instead focused on Mor’ghan’s steady hand on his shoulder. He didn’t need everyone to believe in him to get the job done, as it was he was used to being undervalued, she was no different than Iverson, no different than his high school bullies and every person that had ever told Lance that he wasn’t enough.

He was enough.

Maybe one day even he would believe that.

‘Youngling.’ Lance blinked out of his thoughts and looked over to Sha’rah. ‘Through your bond with Gaia, you will learn to manipulate the elements, Rhea’za has asked that I train you.’

‘Ok.’ Control of the elements? He gasped, his eyes widening with excitement. ‘Oh my god,’ He whispered in awe, ‘I’m the avatar.’ He turned to look at Kira, a cheeky grin on his face, only she was looking at him oddly, right she didn’t grow up on Earth so she wouldn’t understand the reference. His grin dropped into a pout. ‘Hunk would have got it.’ He mumbled, turning back to the front.

‘Well as Gaia’s bonded champion, you have become her avatar, as you say, you have proven this by channelling her.’ Sha’rah explained. His pout deepened.

‘I didn’t exactly channel her, I didn’t even know she could do that, she just got angry and took over.’

‘How it occurred does not matter. You channelled her and we are convinced.’

Still feeling uneasy Lance simply nodded his head, looking down at the floor. He really hoped they didn’t expect him to allow Gaia to take him over, it really did make him feel uncomfortable. There was that moment, when he’d snapped back into place, where he had entirely forgot how his own body worked. How to breath, how to blink, or even move, he’d been totally disengaged from his brain and that had been terrifying.

What if the next time it happened Gaia didn’t give his body back?

_Do not fear me… please._

He felt her sadness, her guilt so keenly, that it almost felt like his own. This was going to get confusing, what if he forgot to separate their thoughts and began thinking as Gaia? What if he got used to feeling her strength and decided he liked it better then his own dark insecurities? What if one day he just let her have his body, because it would be easier, wouldn’t it?

_Strength yours. Not mine._

_I don’t feel very strong right now._ He admitted back and ignored the comfort Gaia was trying to push through him. He thought back to what he’d said earlier about her needing a body and frowned.

_I’m just a body._

There was an intense pushing inside him now, Gaia desperately trying to communicate something to him, but Lance had already closed himself off.

He steeled his expression, donning yet another mask, and looked up and addressed the occupants of the room.

He pointedly ignored Ma Rhea’za’s concerned frown.

‘So now that we’ve established that I am Gaia’s vessel, what’s the plan?’

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story has breached 1000 hits and 100 Kudos, thank you for taking time out of your day to read this and for liking it and for commenting, and just thank you, and even if this story wasn't what you were into or it wasn't what you hoped it would be, thank you for giving it a go anyway, I appreciate it all.

This was boring. Boring. Boring. Boring.

Despite the meeting being arranged to announce him as Gaia’s champion, Lance had not been invited to sit at the main table, which, ok, rude. The rest had taken a seat around the table, on chairs of rock that had been moulded to shape by Sha’rah’s magic, she moved with practiced ease as she coaxed the Earth to rise and form into large chairs for the remaining Orgs who still stood.

Would he be able to manipulate the Earth like that? He watched her movements like a hawk, you know, just in case he wanted to make some rock chairs too.

Kira and Krillan were also not invited to sit at the table, when Lance had pouted at the obvious exclusions Krillan had just shrugged.

‘Council members only.’ He’d said in the a way that translated to ‘well, what can you do’  and then took a seat on a protruding rock that jutted out from the wall, he watched the proceedings of the meeting keenly, probably taking in everything, at the same time he had started to rub his thigh as if it was giving him discomfort.

Kira had chosen to remain standing and instead was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her torso, looking angry, but if she was anything like Keith then that was her concentration face, her eyes kept darting over all the members of the council.

It looked like Lance was the only one that was mildly offended by the exclusion, so he dropped down to the floor with a huff and crossed his legs, he planted an elbow on his thigh and rested his chin on his palm to settle in for a long meeting.

Or tried to at least. He was tired. Delving into negativity did that to him, but also the fact that he hadn’t had a proper rest since getting here, even if he had technically slept for three days.

Gaia was quiet now, but he could feel her simmering in the back of his conscience, she was troubled, and Lance could guess at why. But Lance knew how he worked, she wanted to reassure him, to make promises, to remind him he was hope, or whatever, and Lance wasn’t ready to hear that, he needed to sort his thoughts, to tuck them neatly back into the mental box that they had leaked from.

He should be listening really. He glanced lazily over the table, but what they were saying wasn’t really all that exciting, he found it hard to focus on a normal day, so he definitely couldn’t focus now.

That was until Li’rana shot up, her hands slammed down on the table with such force Lance was worried the table would crack under the pressure, it didn’t, but his interest had peaked.

‘Has being underground for so long driven you mad, Ma Rhea’za, first you want us to accept _him_ as our champion,’ she gestured to Lance sharply, he let out a half-hearted, offended ‘hey’, ‘and now you tell me that you have extended an offer of alliance to the Drai!’

Lance frowned in confusion, he was fairly new on this planet, but no one had mentioned the Drai yet, not even Coran when he had given them an abridged version of Org history. He looked up to Krillan, who was rubbing his chin thoughtfully but as if sensing someone was watching him, his gaze slid towards Lance and their eyes met. He arched a brow in question.

‘Drai?’ Lance whispered. Krillan made a face of understanding and leaned down towards Lance.

‘They’re a race that appeared here about a hundred years ago, made a home for themselves in the Tarand Wilds, they’ve been at war with the Orgs for about just as long.’  

‘Oh.’ Lance hummed. Krillan straightened and returned to the proceedings. Lance on the other hand turned his thoughts inwards, he could only gauge how well this meeting was going by Gaia’s reactions and right at the mention of the Drai, something like hope had fluttered in his chest. He poked mentally at the sensation in question.

 _Regret._ Came a whispered response.

He frowned – this place was going to give him wrinkles, he was sure of it – but before he could question the meaning of it, the word was followed by a jab of melancholy and… grief.

His vision wavered and he was no longer looking at the room full of tense Orgs and instead found himself blinking into a bright light, he held his arm up in front of his face to block some of the glare and peered out from underneath.

He was startled by the sudden laughter, bright and shared between two people, one voice he recognised as Gaia’s, her deep timbre harmonising with the higher dulcet tone of the voice that was so unfamiliar to him and yet completely familiar at the same time.

Or rather it must have been familiar to Gaia.

As his eyes adjusted, he could see two forms emerging, haloed by the light as they walked towards him. He squinted, trying to make them out, but no matter how hard he looked they never really came into focus.

‘We took for granted our immortality, in those times it had never occurred to us that one day someone would find a way to kill us.’

Lance gasped in surprise and turned his head quickly to look up at Gaia, who now stood beside him. She watched the two figures with such longing it hurt Lance just to look at her.

‘Who…?’ He asked, but he trailed off when he felt a wetness trailing down his cheek. Surprised, he touched his cheek and found tears. ‘Huh?’

‘I’m sorry.’ Gaia offered. ‘Connected as we are, we’ll be open to each other’s feelings and emotion,’ she paused, looking back at the distant figures that stood together. ‘And memories.’ She finished with a whisper.

Memories? He put a hand to his chest where an ache had begun to grow, feelings of love blooming but muted under the weight of grief.

But he recognised this kind of love.

Just then a scream broke out behind them and Lance spun around in alarm only to choke on a surprised sound, he took an uncertain step back, the hand against his chest folding into a fist.

The scream turned into giggles as a much younger Lance was spun around by his brother Luis, sitting nearby were Rachel and Veronica, Veronica braiding Rachel’s then unruly hair while Rachel laughed at her brother’s antics, Marco appeared in the scene with a water gun and Veronica and Rachel squealed when he turned it on them.

He remembered this. The moment he’d seen the water gun Lance had all but chucked himself off Luis’ back and screeched his way towards Marco and the water gun.

Familial love, that was what he’d felt. He looked over at the two forms and then to Gaia, who was watching Lance play with his siblings, she was smiling softly.

‘Is that your sister?’ He asked gently.

‘She was, yes.’ Was… oh. He glanced back at his own siblings and thought about losing any of them, it would destroy him, there was no doubt about that.

‘I’m sorry.’ He offered. She smiled down at him.

‘Death was not a concept that applied to us, and yet, I lost her, but I was not the only one who suffered, I show you this because my regret is that her children were not able to find peaceful refuge with me.’

‘Her children?’

‘The Drai were born from her, just like my Orgs were born from me, but when she died, the Drai were forced to evacuate, left homeless, I called to them, offered them a home, but my Orgs were… not as receptive, they assumed the worst, their drive to protect me is admirable but it makes them suspicious of any they perceive as outsiders.’

He thought about Li’rana’s reaction to him and grimaced, he’d already surmised that, he recalled her unwelcoming eyes glaring him down quite vividly, even after being presented by the proof of Gaia’s choice.

‘Their damaged ship crashed on my surface and the Orgs assumed an attack, naturally the Drai defended themselves and the misunderstanding has turned into a bitter war between them. It breaks my heart to see them fight, to feel their spilt blood on my skin.’

‘Maybe this is a chance then.’ Lance said, wanting to take Gaia away from the path of thinking, ‘Ma Rhea’za has extended an offer to them maybe after we save you things will change between them, bonds can be forged in the heat of things, when you fight side by side rather than against.’

‘I wish it did not have to take such dire circumstances, but I will take my silver linings where I can.’ She smiled down at Lance softly. ‘Thank you, Lance.’ He shrugged bashfully.

‘Cheering people up is kind of my thing.’

‘It is a good quality to have, and you have many, which brings me to another point.’ And then with a determined expression she faced him and crouched down so that she could meet him at eye level. Lance couldn’t look away even if he’d tried. ‘I would never sacrifice you, that was never my intention, I chose you to help me fight for my children but not once was I going to let you die for that cause, the universe still needs you.’

‘What if you don’t have a choice?’ Lance asked.

‘If it ever comes to a point where I cannot be saved then I need you to persuade the Org’s to leave, if I can not be saved, then at least save them.’ She pleaded.

‘Are you kidding me, those guys are crazy loyal to you, how am I supposed to persuade them to abandon you, they’ll never listen to me.’ But Lance shook his head quickly. ‘This is a moot point any way because we are going to save you, you have nothing to worry about.’

Gaia watched him for a moment while Lance stared back defiantly until she closed her eyes with a small chuckle, she straightened up.

‘I really did make the right choice, Lance, how could I doubt it when you look at me with such fierce determination.’ She reached forwards and cupped his face; he felt his face soften in embarrassment. ‘Don’t let the darkness conceal your self-worth, those parts of you will always be lying, embrace that brightness within you and show the universe exactly who you are.’

‘And who am I? Some days I’m not really sure anymore.’ He’d been changing himself so much for the benefit of other people that he wasn’t sure he remembered who he was. Gaia just smiled down at him patiently.

‘You are Lance Mcclain.’ She said simply.

Lance’s eyes widened in recognition and just as he remembered, he heard his mother.

He turned to look and found his mama crouched down in front of a young Lance, hands gripping his arms gently and looking at him with such a soft expression that tears sprung to Lance’s eyes, overcome by how much he missed her.

Little Lance’s eyes were red too. In his hand was a crumbled letter of acceptance from the Garrison, he’d been so happy because despite what everyone had said, Lance had made it, but also because of what everyone had been saying, his insecurities had gotten the better of him and he’d persuaded himself that it had been some kind of mistake.

His mama hadn’t stood for that, she’d seen how hard he’d worked to get in, she’d sat up with him most nights to help him study, to test him, to prepare him, even if she had been reluctant for him to go, she’d supported him all the way.

So she knew there had been no mistake.

‘You are Lance Mcclain,’ She’d said, with fire in her eyes, ‘and you will shine just as bright as those stars you dream of reaching. Do not let anyone ever tell you otherwise.’

Lance sniffed, eyes wet as he watched the memory fade, he looked back up at Gaia and smiled.

‘I am Lance Mcclain, and I’ll work on trying to remember what that means.’ Cause he couldn’t just make these insecurities just go away, they were too deeply ingrained for him to just get over them, but he would actively try to fight them now. ‘Tha-‘

Lance was roughly knocked out of his thoughts and back into his body when he was shoved sideways, unprepared he’d cried out which naturally caught the attention of everyone in the room. He froze like a deer caught in the headlight before shooting Kira a heated glare, her foot still slightly raised from where she’d kicked him.

‘Why?’ He whined.

‘Falling asleep during a meeting is unprofessional.’ She said.

‘And you couldn’t have patted me on the shoulder like a normal person.’ He grumbled. ‘And anyway I wasn’t sleeping, I was talking to Gaia.’

‘Oh really?’ She questioned sceptically, clearly not believing him.

‘Yes… oh!’ And then he remembered why she’d pulled him in in the first place. ‘The Drai!” He shouted, which might have seemed kind of random to everyone in the room, because how long had he been with Gaia? Were they even still talking about the Drai? He was met with confused stares and for a moment an old insecurity began to worm its way in, _they think you’re being dumb._ This was the one that told not to talk up during meetings, even if he felt that the points he had were good ones, because what if the others didn’t agree, or shot it down.

Gaia pulsed gently, reminding him, and Lance jolted away from that line of thought, this needed to be said.

‘What about the Drai, Lance?’ Mor’ghan asked, he was looking at Lance like he was genuinely interested in the answer. Had other looked at him like before whenever he expressed a half-formed opinion? Had his insecurities made him see something else? He focused on Mor’ghan as he spoke.

‘I obviously don’t know much about your war with the Drai, but I think it might have been born from a misunderstanding.’ And just as he expected, Li’rana blew up at him.

‘Are your dismissing all we’ve been through against the Drai?’ She spat. ‘How dare you make light of our plight.’

‘No! I’m not doing any of that, you’ve warred with them for a hundred years, nothing I can say will ever erase the feelings born from that but at the very beginning when they first landed here, that was were the misunderstanding started.’

‘They invaded, they wanted to steal our planet!” Li’rana growled. ‘No misunderstanding was had, our job was, and still is, too protect Gaia, of course we would not sit back and let them take her.’

‘You were wrong.’ Lance said boldly, doing his best to hide his nervousness. Li’rana looked ready to kill him, Gaia’s champion or not.

‘What do you mean?’ Mor’ghan asked instead, standing to hold Li’rana back should she decide to charge at Lance.

‘They weren’t invading, they were invited, by Gaia.’

The room fell deathly silent and Lance squirmed.

‘You’re lying.’ Li’rana snapped. ‘Are you sent here by the Drai to sow your seeds of discourse.’ Her eyes widening as if she had made a discovery. ‘That must be it, he is an agent of the Drai!’ She accused, pointing at him whilst looking at everyone else, waiting for them to agree with her.

No one did and Lance was kind of done being offended, Li’rana clearly had some unresolved trust issues and he knew he wasn’t going to get through to her today. He just rolled his eyes and addressed the rest of the room.

‘Just at look at it from this angle for a moment, the Drai were homeless, their planet had just been destroyed and Gaia had felt it, because that planet had been her sister.’ There was a stunned silence that followed his revelation, but Lance pushed on. ‘She called out to her sister’s children and offered them refuge, lost and broken, they accepted. They landed but Gaia hadn’t anticipated how distrustful you’d all be, you attacked, unprovoked, and the Drai, backed into a corner and fresh from losing their home, defended themselves.’

He leant back and let them think on it.

‘I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but in this case, I think you might have been the bad guys in this scenario.’ He offered delicately and a little sheepishly. He felt Gaia’s tired affection, frustrated but equally fond. ‘Gaia loves you all very much,’ He added, ‘But this war has caused her nothing but pain, the Drai are the children of her deceased sister and you guys are out here killing them, that’s kind of messed up, you know, they’re technically your cousins if you think about it… ’ He trailed off when he received multiple grim looks. He held his hands up in defence.

‘I’m just the messenger.’ He reminded them.

‘This small one is accurate.’ Comes a new voice from the opening of the cavern, accented and smoother than the Orgs rougher tones.

Lance had never seen a room of beings so big move so fast. Those that had been seated stood, hands flying to their weapons as they spun to face the opening, faces twisting into hostility, Mor’ghan included, which for some reason disappointed Lance.

Mor’ghan glanced at Lance briefly before looking back at the newcomer, only to do a double take, and maybe Lance’s disappointment showed because Mor’ghan softened his expression and his hand moved away from his weapon. Lance’s brows raised in surprise, did his opinion matter that much?

The others were too busy glaring down the new beings to care that Lance, and by extension Gaia, was looking on in disapproval.

The only Org not to move from her seat was Ma Rhea’za, she sat straight, her hands locked together over the table and her face neutral, he supposed she did invite them, assuming the beings at the door were the Drai that she had mentioned, and given everyone’s reaction to them they could only be the Drai.

Lance peeked around Kira, who was also standing tense, hand hovering over her weapon, to look at the Drai.

She and two others, another female and one male, stood unflinchingly, even though they were surrounded by an enemy. As tall as the Org’s but slimmer, blue skinned, with tails and had hooves instead of feet.

The woman at point, was dressed in plate armour that shimmered with enchantments, a mace sat on her hip and she had a giant shield strapped to her back. She also had horns, they all did, same blue colour as their skin, hers were curled around until the point of her horns were under her ears, strangely only one of her horns was decorated whilst the other remained bare. Her pale hair was tucked behind her horns and cascaded down her back, a few braided strands framed her face and her bangs sat above her brow.

The other female was dressed in leathers, a longbow and a quiver stocked full of arrows fletched with brilliant feathers were strapped to her back, her horns were straight, coming out from her temples and flattened against her head, both were decorated with beautiful feathers and gems, that dangled from gold bands.

The male stood a little taller than the females, and wider too, with a broad chest and muscled arms. He too was decked out in full plate armour that shimmered as well. His horns were smaller but each one had a gold band around the base.

Their eyes glowed a pale yellow, so when the main female slid her gaze away from the hostile presence of the Orgs to land on him he startled, it was like those eyes could see straight through him, and maybe they could because she didn’t even hesitate when she bowed her head towards him respectfully.

‘Thank you for defending us, Champion of Gaia, but it may be too late to mend the relations between our two races. After one hundred years, out scars may run too deep.’

Li’rana – because after only knowing her for roughly an hour, he was beginning to get a good picture of what kind of character she was, so, of course it was Li’rana – growled and pulled her weapon out.

 _I’m sorry, but this one is a dummy._ Lance directed at Gaia. She remained suspiciously quiet so he took it as an agreement.

Lance just really wanted a nap.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alliances are forged and Lance gets his nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay guys, I reached the end of all the chapter I had written out already and have been trying to write up a bunch more so I have a more regular release, it's slow process with the time I have available to me but I'm still churning away with the story and am super grateful for the support. Enjoy!

The two Drai that flanked the leader drew their weapons in response, ready to defend themselves should Li’rana attack, which she looked quite ready to do, except for the female Drai. She calmly looked on, watching Li’rana with an impassive gaze and it was neither challenging or a wary, just patient.

Though there was an aura about her that left Lance with no doubt that she would be able to defend herself should Li’rana attack.

But ultimately, she would not be the first to strike.

Li’rana seemed to only grow more frustrated by this Drai, perhaps she felt she was being looked down on, or maybe she’d just been spoiling for a fight, but her sneer grew more pronounced and a shift to her heel told Lance she was about to leap into a fight.

Ugh, it was like dealing with pre-blade Keith all over again.

_Stop it before it begins._

‘Yeah, yeah,’ He grumbled dismissively, all ready fed up by the whole thing. He was just so tired. He got to his feet and with purposeful steps he planted himself between the Drai and the Orgs, or more accurately, between the Drai and Li’rana.

Li’rana who had been steps away from reaching the Drai, halted suddenly and growled in Lance’s face, he stared back unimpressed, like Keith hadn’t growled in his face a time or two for getting in his way, this was old hat.

Did he mention he was also hungry; he hadn’t really got a chance to tuck into the food Krillan had prepared before they’d been summoned for the meeting.

And face masks, he’d kill for a bath and a face mask.

‘Get out of my way.’ Li’rana growled through clenched teeth.

‘Yeah I don’t think so.’ Lance drawled and as he spoke, a breeze began to lift from his feet, surrounding him, buffeting his clothes and whipping his hair up, that frustration that had been building slowly throughout the meeting was finally peaking and it seemed like Gaia had his back. Li’rana took a wary step back. ‘Stow your weapon,’ Lance said slowly, ‘A sit the fuck down.’ Ok, so now that Lance had opened himself up to the frustrations that he’d been repressing, he was actually quite angry.

‘You expect me to just-‘

‘Yes!’ Lance’s voice echoed with power, which surprised even him,  making the room shake. Ok, reel it back in, reel it back in. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that they’re were currently underground, the last thing he wanted to do was accidently cave the room in. ‘We expect you to set aside your differences because the truth of the matter is your planet is dying, Gaia is dying, and you are wasting time acting like little children, like it or not the Drai have a home here too, and the fact that they have come at Ma Rhea’za request suggests that they are open to a truce.’ He looked around the room. ‘Tension was too be expected, it’s a big move to make, but, you are the only one getting in the way of negotiations so sit down and think of Gaia.’ Much to his surprise Li’rana bit her tongue and lowered her weapon, he stood straight even under her baleful glare, and she turned and sat back down.

His shoulders sagged and he let out a breathe he must have been holding, the air swooping out of him to leave a gaping space in his stomach where the tension had been twisting. That was intense. He looked around the room, only to find them all staring back at him (except Li’rana who was looking stubbornly in the opposite direction, her pride bruised) he froze like a deer in the headlights and horror crept in when he realised he’d just scolded a room full of giant Orgs.

He felt his face heat up and he stiffly walked back to the wall he’d been sitting by and sank down to the floor, only this time Kira flopped down next to him, grinning. She leant towards him.

‘I think you’ve earned their respect.’ She whispered, Lance gave her funny look.

‘I don’t see how,’ He whispered back, ‘I shouted at them and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have to learn to sleep with one eye open because I wouldn’t be surprised if Li’rana came to kill me in my sleep for calling her out in front of everyone like that.’

‘You made Li’rana back down from a fight, it is notoriously difficult to do so, had she successfully attacked the Drai, there is no way they would entertain the idea of allying with the Org’s and we’d be fighting a war on two fronts.’ She smirked. ‘Well done, you averted a disaster.’

He probably shouldn’t tell her that he was motivated by lack of sleep, hunger and a strong desire for a deep clean face mask.

‘Yeah,’ He said, eyes averted, ‘worked just how I planned it.’ She snorted, like she knew.

‘Sure.’ She said, leaning away.

Ma Rhea’za chose that moment to stand, addressing the Drai amicably, she tilted her head in greeting.

‘Thank you for accepting my invitation, Ishani.’ She said, she gestured to the spare seat at the table, Ishani smiled tightly in response and walked further into the room, despite being surrounded my her enemy, one of which had already tried to attack her, she appeared at ease as she strode in and took the offered seat. The other female Drai had followed close behind and now stood at her shoulder while the male stood guard at the door.

‘I must confess, I was very surprised to receive your message, though it was not unwelcome.’ Ishani said.  

‘Gaia has chosen a champion and we believe it means the time to fight back is upon us, Rok’oth’s tyranny and the Galra’s incursion has not only impacted us, but I know the Drai are suffering too, I firmly believe that our two races together have a better chance if we fight side by side.’ Ma Rhea’za, scanned all the face in the room, as if daring anyone to disagree with her. Li’rana’s jaw was tense as if she was fighting very hard to hold back her vitriol.

‘This would not be the first time my people have suffered at the hands of the Galra.’ Ishani stated, Lance sat up. ‘My home planet fell at the hands of the Galra long ago, unprovoked, their ships filled the sky and they tore through the streets, killing anyone that stood in their way, by nature our people were not warriors therefor we were unable to stand against their forces. For deca-phoebs they chipped away at our planet and we, her children, were forced to feel her agony.’ She closed her eyes as she was remembering it all and Lance had to wonder just how old all these aliens were? She composed herself quickly and continued. ‘If it had not been for our great leader’s sacrifice, our people would have perished when the Galra’s dark magic defiled our planet and she crumbled beneath our feet.’

Dark magic? Druids? Now that he thought about it Mor’ghan had mentioned something about the Galra druids protecting the prison, which meant they had to be on the planet, which was odd, in all the planets that Votron had saved from Galran control Druids had never been personally present, preferring to remain on the main ship, usually near Haggar.

Something about that seemed worth noting, he wasn’t sure what that was yet but it seemed odd to have Haggar’s druids present for something as simple as gathering resources.

And to spend five years here? Gaia was bountiful, given that she was a living entity, but the Galra were ruthless and efficient in their operations, so why spend so much time on one planet, especially given the state of the Empire now that Zarkon and Lotor were gone.

Was Haggar behind this? And if she was, Lance was beginning to think that there might be more going on then they’d originally thought.

‘How long were the Galra on your planet?’ Lance asked, Ishani startled at the abrupt question, yanking her out of her memories and she glanced over her shoulder with a curious lift to her brow.

‘Almost Six deca-phoebs.’

He hummed thoughtfully and settled back against the wall, everyone else shared looks of confusion when Lance didn’t elaborate but Lance was no longer paying attention, he had turned inwards to address Gaia.

_‘Is there anything hidden on this planet the Galra might be searching for?’_

_I… no… you believe they are after something else?_

_‘Maybe I just don’t know what.’_

Lance wasn’t sure if he should mention something, because what if he was wrong and he had created something out of nothing for no reason, they were already dealing with so much, surely it wouldn’t be fair to add something else to the mix.

No. He’d keep his suspicions to himself for now, until he had something to back it up with, or a solution.

He pushed it to the back of his mind and added it to the pile of shit he had to deal with at a later date, tactfully ignoring how big the pile was getting, he instead tried to focus on the meeting.

Except they were talking about truce agreements and that was… had it been mentioned how tired he was, like bone deep tired, so he doesn’t feel like he should be judged badly when his eye lids begin to droop, and a blissful fogginess begins to cloud his mind.

And then there’s a sharp jab to his side and Lance is rudely awoken, an interrupted snore became a snort as he jumped roughly into awareness. He rubbed his side as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand and glared at Kira.

‘What the hell are your elbows made of?’ He whispered harshly. She rolled her eyes.

‘Don’t be a baby. What did Gaia want?’ She asked and Lance frowned in confusion. He was groggy from his impromptu nap so his mind felt a bit sluggish so her words meant nothing to him in that moment.

‘Huh?’

‘You went under again, I only interrupted because the meeting has ended. So…’ She prompted, clearly curious. Lance looked around the room to see Li’rana was already gone, Ishani and her shadows were talking to Ma Rhea’za, Mor’ghan and Krillan. Ur’gora remained seated at the table, looking deep in thought and Hel’oras and Sha’rah were talking quietly amongst themselves.

Oops, he thought, he had slept through the rest of the meeting, he really hoped he hadn’t missed anything important, though he supposed if it had anything to do with him they probably would have noticed he’d dozed off, unless they also thought he’d been communing with Gaia.

Amusement stirred in the back of his mind. He scowled at it before turning sheepishly to Kira and shrugging.

‘Actually, this time I was just sleeping.’ He admitted.

She went from intrigued to deadpan so fast Lance missed it, but he didn’t miss the second jab to the ribs with her super sharp elbow before she was getting up off the floor and stalking off.

He wheezed, mentally cursing her back as she walked away. He’d been through a lot these last few days, couldn’t she cut him some slack. Geez.

Left alone, Lance awkwardly got to his feet and dusted himself off, when he looked up he found he was being watched now, he straightened up and smiled.

‘Productive meetings!’ He half yelled nonsensically. ‘Always a joy to be a part of them.’ He added overenthusiastically. Krillan snorted and Lance slid into the seat next to him with a groan. ‘Was it obvious?’ He mumbled.

‘You were snoring.’ Krillan informed him Lance dropped his head onto the rocky uneven surface of the table and drew out a groan.

‘You’re lying,’ Lance accused peeking up at Krillan suspiciously. ‘Kira thought I was talking to Gaia, it would have been too obvious I wasn’t if I had been snoring.’

‘Kira was trying to save you from embarrassing yourself. What you were supposed to say was yes, that you were communing with Gaia, and everyone would have just pretended that that was true.’

‘She was being a bro,’ Lance groaned in realisation, he took back the curses he’d thrown her way. ‘You guys haven’t known me long so for future reference, I am an idiot fresh from sleep, it takes a solid ten minutes for my brain to fully engage.’ He sat back up and ran a hand over his face. ‘Please tell me you were joking about the snoring though?’

‘He tells the truth,’ interjected Un’gora with a sharp grin, ‘You were snoring away like a yupper pup.’

For good measure Lance groaned again, just so everyone fully understood the depth of his humiliation.

‘Why didn’t anyone wake me up?’

‘We were not offended, Lance, you have been through a lot over a small number of days, and haven’t had a good opportunity to rest, and rest is important.’ Ma Rhea’za offered warmly.

Krillan leant closer to Lance. ‘Besides, Mor’ghan practically threatened anyone who dared wake you up.’ He whispered loudly. Mor’ghan straightened and shot Krillan a withering look.

‘I did not threaten anyone, I merely suggested that we let young Lance rest his eyes for a moment.’

‘Threateningly.’ Krillan said under his breath. Mor’ghan stared silently at Krillan for a whole thirty seconds before sighing and looking at Lance instead, his countenance softening.

‘You have earned you rest.’

‘Thanks… uh… did Li’rana notice?’ He asked cautiously. Un’gora laughed uproariously.

‘Oh yes, she noticed, I believe I have never witnessed such restraint from a Battle Maiden, the fear of disappointing Gaia further must have truly affected her.’ Lance frowned.

‘She’s not disappointed,’ He said quickly, ‘she loves all of you with her whole being, including her adopted children,’ he added pointing at the Drai. Ishani’s eyes widened at the acknowledgement before softening into something warm, the glow of her eyes brightening ever so slightly. ‘She’s just really exasperated, right now she’s proud of the steps you are taking to remedy a broken connection.’

There was a moment of silence before Ishani sighed. ‘I must confess that I am relieved at the prospect of peace, my people spent years suffering at the hands of the Galra, and when we arrived on your planet we had hoped to foster a friendship, but… we went from enslavement to war with no reprieve. Draisha, our home planet, taught us to practice patience and forgiveness, therefore I hope that our two peoples can move past the bloodshed and learn to walk the same path.’ She looked down at her hands and stretched one out to Ma Rhea’za. ‘Over the last one hundred years, Gaia has become our home too, and we wish to offer our aid so that what happened to our planet does not occur again.’

Ma rhea’za took Ishani’s hand, clasping it firmly, they looked at each other, engaged in a silent conversation before they both smiled.

‘We gratefully accept your aid, and your people.’

And then it was done.

Lance smiled widely, basking in the moment and in Gaia’s joy.

‘So is this something to do with Gaia,’ Krillan began to ask, drawing Lance’s attention away from The Moment with a confused hum. ‘Or do humans normally glow randomly.’ Frowning Lance looked down at himself and gaped. All his exposed skin was glowing brightly, radiating from under his skin and lighting up the area around him, it pulsed like the warmth that had made a home for itself at the back of his neck. It was so bright that he could see it through the material of his clothes, and he felt the inexplicable urge to blush.

‘Nothing to do with me, she’s happy, this was what she wanted all along.’ He explained. In his head he urgently pleaded for Gaia to reign it in, he felt exposed with their emotion out in the open like this.

The light receded until it was just a dull glow just beneath the surface, it was still strange to see but at least he wasn’t lit up like a beacon anymore.

‘Ok,’ He said, getting to his feet, ‘I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day. Is there a place where I can go wash up? I’m too scared to think about how long it’s been since I’ve washed, and I’m sure you’ve all been too polite to tell me I stink.’

‘Of course, I’ll have someone show you to the bathing chamber, I will also have some food prepared for you for when you are done.’ Ma Rhea’za said. Lance smiled his thanks and followed the Org, that must have answered a silent summon since she walked in a moment later, to another wide chamber that was filled with pools of water. Lance took a moment to awe at the scene, all around the room fresh spring water trickled down the walls into each of the pools keeping them full and fresh, they over flowed and water disappeared into narrow cracks in the rock to travel deeper.

The Org bowed to him before taken her leave and Lance had the place to himself and he took full advantage of it, he stripped down, tripping in his haste to remove his trousers, and jumped into one of the pools.

Oh dear Gods, it was warm, he sank down all the way until he was entirely submerged and there he stayed, enjoying the muted silence until the need to breath forced him up. He smoothed his hair back and glided to the side of the pool where he leant back against the rocky surface. This was bliss, and it was enough to distract him from the responsibilities he’d taken on.

But then he remembered his friends and drowned in guilt, were they suffering while he relaxed, Mor’ghan had told him they were unharmed but a lot could happen in a day. What if while he floated here, washing away his problems, they were being tortured or worse. Was he wasting time?

He wanted to see his friends so badly.

Sadly, he stepped out of the pool, no longer able to enjoy himself, and dried himself off, he jerked on his clothes and headed back to Kira and Krillan’s place.

Just as Ma Rhea’za had promised food was piled up on the table, and this time Kira wasn’t scoffing it all down, instead she sat away from the table polishing her dagger, she stopped to look up at him, frowning when she saw his expression, he quickly offered a smile and sat at the table, ready to eat.

And he was hungry, like, really, hungry but his appetite was not cooperating because what if the guys weren’t getting fed at all, where they all being starved?

‘Eat.’ Kira ordered.

‘I’m worried about my friends.’ He said instead of listening to her. ‘We didn’t discuss anything about how to help them? What if they’re being tortured, or starved, Hunk has serious anxiety, if he doesn’t eat, he’ll spiral. And Keith, he get’s grouchy when he’s hungry.’ And then he gasped. ‘And what about Shiro, he’s been tortured enough, I can’t be sitting here doing nothing.’

‘Shut up.’ Kira snapped. ‘Right now there is nothing we can do, to be able to help anyone else you need to look after yourself first and starving yourself in solidarity helps no one, so eat, rest and gather your strength, then, we will plan.’

That made sense, of course it did, Lance needed to be at his best and sleep deprived and hungry was not it. He took a deep breath and offered her a grateful smile before piling food onto his plate. He ate until he was stuffed, feeding Cosmo in between bites until the canine padded off satisfied.

And with fullness came sleepiness, so he excused himself and followed Cosmo into the room where he’d changed clothes before. On a table was a pile of linen that he assumed had been set aside for him so with heavy feet he unfolded them all out and made himself a suitable nest to sleep in.

Cosmo curled up first and Lance found himself a nice spot next to him where he could benefit from the wolf’s warmth. He reached up and buried a hand in Cosmo’s fur, anchoring himself for comfort.

‘We’ll save him.’ Lance promised Cosmo, a blue ear twitched towards Lance so he knew the wolf was listening. ‘We’ll save them all.’

And then Lance sunk into the welcoming darkness.           


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds a way to connect to his friends and he begins his training.

When Lance woke up he wasn’t all that surprised to find himself somewhere else, it was becoming a trend for him. Right now, he was standing in the middle of a cell, or rather on the outside of one and as his eyes adjusted to the new setting he realised that there were people inside the cells.

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open in silent shock and then he was throwing himself forwards, reaching for the bars only for his hands to pass straight through them, followed by the rest of him. He stumbled through into the cell with a garbled sound of alarm.

He looked down at himself, then at the bars and decided he was probably dreaming. When he turned back to the inside of the cell he was startled to find grey eyes already watching him.

As if he was having trouble placing what he was seeing, Keith sat frozen on the floor, eyes glued to Lance with a general lack of understanding. Shiro and Hunk were fast asleep on either side of him; at least he hoped they were only sleeping.

‘Keith?’ Lance asked warily, worried that Keith couldn’t actually see him. But Lance’s voice seemed to snap Keith out of whatever trance he’d gone into because the moment his name had left Lance’s mouth he was on his feet and taking a single step to close the distance between them.

‘Lance?’ He asked uncertainly, hopefully, he looked Lance over like he couldn’t believe what he was really seeing. Lance squirmed from the attention and smiled softly.

‘Yeah.’

‘How… are you here?’ And then Keith reached for Lance and before Lance could warn him, where Keith’s hand should have landed softly on his shoulder, it instead went straight through him. Keith snapped his hand back, looking at it in confusion then at Lance, he seemed to be jumping to conclusion in his head though because suddenly he looked horrified. ‘Oh no, he was telling the truth, he really did kill you, Lance, you’re dead.’ Keith stumbled away from Lance, his face cracking in a way that made Lance ache.

‘No!’ He rushed to correct, moving with Keith to keep the distance between small. ‘I’m not dead, whatever they told you Keith it was a lie, I’m safe, ok, I’m alive.’

Keith met his gaze, scanning his face, searching for a lie.

‘You’re really alive?’ He asked uncertainly, letting Lance come closer.

‘I am, I promise.’

‘What’s going on Lance, how are you here? Why are you,’ He waves his hand through Lance. ‘like that?’ Lance watched that hand that had just trailed through him for a moment and wished, quite out of the blue, that he could reach out and grab it with his hand.

‘I think I’m sleeping, I don’t really know how I’m here…’ He’s interrupted by a pulse of encouraging warmth and Lance suddenly understood. ‘Oh.’

‘Oh?’

‘Right, I’m being astral projected, I think, I haven’t really learnt how all this works yet so I don’t really have an answer but…’ He looked up at Keith, scruffy and tired but whole and alive and he smiled. ‘I’m just so grateful that I got to see you, I’ve been so worried.’

Keith’s cheeks went pink and he ducked his face down so it was out of Lance’s line of sight.

‘They’ve mostly left us alone.’ Keith offered after a moment. ‘What’s going on Lance?’

‘Too much, the planet’s in trouble, the Orgs want help, I’m trying to find a way to free you guys and I’m having trouble keeping myself together and have I mentioned that I’m currently acting as a vessel for the planet.’ Keith stared at him for moment, his face melting into a worried frown.

‘There’s a lot to unpack there but what do you mean you’re acting as a vessel for the planet?’

‘Gaia needed a vessel to be able to act, but she can only bond with a soul that resonates with hers, as we passed through her atmosphere she sensed me, so she lured us here with a signal we wrongly translated as a distress signal… it’s my fault we’re here and that you guys are imprisoned.’ He looked down at ground, eyes stinging. He heard Keith sigh.

‘Look at me Lance, seriously, look me in the eyes while I tell how much of an idiot you are.’ Lance made an offended noise as he lifted his head. Only to find that Keith was smiling, and in that soft way he often reserved for Shiro or Cosmo, he didn’t think it would ever be for him. ‘You are an idiot if you think we’re going to blame you for any of this.’ He scoffed quietly. ‘Shit like this happens to us all the time Lance, and what happens every time, we win, this time will be no different.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ Lance whispered.

‘Because you haven’t let me down yet.’ Lance was having a hard time containing his blush, touched by Keith’s faith in him. ‘Um,’ Keith said, glancing all over Lance. ‘You’re glowing, is that normal?’ Lance looked down and swore, well this was embarrassing because he was pretty sure that this time had nothing to do with Gaia.

He laughed nervously, trying to play it off with a shrug. ‘Oh this, it’s nothing, just a side effect of being connected to Gaia, don’t worry about it.’ He coughed into his hand and averted his gaze. ‘Anyway, I found some guys that can help me, it might take a little while, but I will save you guys, just wait for me ok.’

Keith sent him an unreadable look that made Lance feel as if he was missing something obvious but then he chuckled in that way that always made Lance’s tummy feel funny and smiled crookedly up at Lance.

‘I’ve waited this long for you, haven’t I.’ Keith said cryptically.

‘Huh?’ But it seemed as if Lance wasn’t going to get any answers soon because he was thrown backwards with a gasp and he was jolting up in his makeshift bed. Cosmo jolted awake with a small yip and immediately turned to Lance and started licking his face. Lance snorted and gently pushed Cosmo’s snout away, using a blanket to wipe away Cosmo’s comfort.

And then he smiled. He ‘d seen Keith, and the others, they were ok, well as ok as they could be in a prison, but they were alive.

‘Gaia?’ He whispered.

_You’re welcome._

He chuckled. ‘Thank you.’

***

He was about to tuck into breakfast with Krillan and Kira when Ma Rhea’za summoned him, he looked mournfully down at his food before getting to his feet with a heavy sigh, he got a few steps away before rushing back to the table and shoving a few things in his mouth, he grabbed a pretzel looking food thing for the journey, and gave the snickering Krillan and the grossed out looking Kira a two finger salute before following the female Org Ma Rhea’za had sent to get him.

The Org he was following was the same one that had shown him to the baths, so when he swallowed down his food, he took a few running steps to catch up with her and smiled up at her.

‘I don’t think I caught your name?’ He asked pleasantly. She side eyed him for a moment and then refocused her attention back to the path in front of them. His smile slipped when she didn’t answer, and he had to wonder if he had done something to offend her, he was sure that he had thanked her when she had taken him to the pools.

Or, maybe Li’rana wasn’t the only one that thought Lance was a disappointing choice for a champion.

‘Ji’raan.’ It was said so quietly that Lance barely heard it. His eyes widened and his smile lifted, but before he could say anything else she stopped and gestured to the opening she’d led him to. ‘Ma Rhea’za is waiting for you inside.’ She said softly, her head lowered enough that her hood obscured her face.

‘Oh, thanks.’

She nodded her head sharply and hurried away, he watched her walk away for a moment before sighing and walking into the room.

The room was much like all the others, large and cavernous, but the walls were smoothed down and if he squinted – because the only light source this place had were flaming sconces – he could make out lines of unfamiliar lettering carved into the wall.

At the centre of the room Ma Rhea’za knelt, her head lowered, with her back to him and towering over her was a statue of Gaia.

Lance paused at the entrance, eyes drawn to the statue, the likeness to the real thing was uncanny and the unseeing eyes that peered out across the room left him feeling oddly exposed. As Lance stared he began seeing a very faint mist that coated the statue, it was bright, for what little there was but it sang to him.

_My residual aura._ Gaia explained from the back of his mind. _I can not appear to my children in the same way that I can appear to you, so when they need me, I send parts of myself to my statues and listen. It allows my aura to ease their worries._

Lance could understand that, it was exactly like having a mum, she didn’t have to say anything to make him feel better, she just had to be there.

He jumped out of his thoughts before he could think too much about his mum and how much he missed her since those kinds of thoughts usually made him spiral into deep homesickness and bouts of crying.

Gaia pulsed with a warm comfort and he smiled gratefully.

Ma Rhea’za was getting to her feet now and didn’t seem too surprised to find Lance standing behind her, she had summoned him after all, she just smiled warmly down at him.

‘I trust you rested well.’ She started. Lance did actually feel spirited today, even after his late night rendezvous with Keith, or maybe that was exactly why he was feeling good, his friends were ok and he’d actually spoken to Keith and it was possible he now had a way of checking on them. ‘Your Aura has brightened.’ Ma Rhea’za observed.

‘It’s amazing what some shut-eye and full belly can do, I feel pretty good right now.’

‘Good, you will need all the energy you can muster over the coming weeks.’ Ma Rhea’za said, making Lance frown. ‘We believe it is best that we begin your training immediately.’

Ugh. Training.

No, he needed to take this seriously, too many people were relying on him so he couldn’t half-ass this. He straightened up and put on his game face.

‘Alright, I’m ready.’

They went through his options, apparently all the Representatives were to be his instructors, and that included Li’rana, but since he didn’t want to die, he left her for last. He decided it was probably best that he waited for her to cool down or found some way to smooth the discord between them before he voluntarily made himself her punching bag.

So his options were training with Sha’rah and learning how to manipulate the elements, which honestly sounded pretty cool.

Or with Ma Rhea’az, learning the various rituals of the druids, to heal and nurture and commune with Gaia, though that last one seem pointless considering he literally had the planet living in him and could talk to her whenever he wanted.

Hel’oras wanted to share their history and customs with him, apparently Org’s had many that involved combat and felt it was better he went in informed rather that ignorant and getting himself in trouble.    

Ur’gora, Mor’ghan and Li’rana were going to be training him in combat and that was a less exciting prospect because let’s be honest Lance knew he was a beanpole, he’d made peace with that truth and though he was proud of the muscles he had gained since becoming a paladin, it paled in comparison to the Orgs who had muscles upon muscles, even Shiro would look like a weakling surrounded by these guys.

As they discussed their options Lance recalled something that had sat heavily on his gut since seeing them. The wisps of fallen warriors who cried out for release, who had been neglected and left to fester, denied their afterlife. He licked his lips before he asked.

‘Is a sending something I could learn?’

Ma Rhea’za paused, and looked down at him curiously, then she looked thoughtful.

‘Yes,’ She said slowly, ‘And a sending is what you wish to learn to do first?’

‘Yes.’ He said, nodding his head eagerly.

‘You are an odd one, but very well.’ Ma Rhea’za conceded. ‘It is an easy ritual, and requires a clear mind as you need to be able to connect to the auras of the fallen, you need to be at peace with yourself to be able to offer peace to others, and if you attempt the sending with a conflicted and busy mind, you are more likely to hurt the spirit than help it.’

Lance swallowed audibly. Right, clear mind, he could totally clear his mind.

Easy.

Right?      


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of training and Shiro lends a hand.

Lance held his position, and though he wasn’t doing anything particularly strenuous, trying to keep his back straight and his arms elevated for an extended period of time was actually pretty difficult. He made a mental note to fix his posture.

Against his better judgement he opened one eye to peek at his silent companion. Ma Rhea’za sat opposite him in her own position, looking like the very picture of calm, cool and collected, her body was so still Lance was concerned she wasn’t breathing, she was of course, but she was taking long deep breathes and exhaling just as slowly.

She could have been asleep for all Lance knew.

He squeezed his eyes closed and tried to time his breathing with hers, inhale… inhale… still inhaling… the burn in his lungs forced him to exhale in a rush. Org’s must have bigger lungs or something; there was no way he could suck that much air in and hold it.

That’s fine he’d take shorter, more manageable, breathes. Lance didn’t have the lung capacity of an Org but he did have the lungs of a swimmer, by human standards, Lance could hold his breath for a good amount of time, well enough to do a decent free dive anyway.

And now he was thinking of the ocean and Veradero Beach and the soul deep ache of homesickness threw him off.

He dropped his posture and fell back to lay flat on his back with a groan.

Breathing exercises were fine and all but Lance had never really been good at clearing his mind. Pidge liked to joke that he was empty headed sometimes but that was so far from the truth it was laughable; Lance couldn’t get his head to shut up no matter how hard he tried. Whether it was that dark part of his mind that liked to put him down and remind him of all the embarrassing things he had ever done, or that other part that liked to kick him while he was down and remind him that he was light years away from his family and his home and that one wrong move may doom them all.

Or that itty-bitty side of his mind that had a running montage of all of his favourite Keith moments… did he say favourite, he meant… yeah ok, his favourite moments. Ugh.

Either way his head was a minefield of thoughts and uncomfortable moments that usually translated to verbal diarrhoea and awkward flirting.

Look, everyone dealt with their shit differently and Lance’s was to ignore his problems and hope for the best.

And now he was lying on his back staring up at the cavern ceiling wishing his messy brain would cut him some slack.

‘You seem to be having some trouble clearing your mind.’ Ma Rhea’za commented, he lifted his head so that he could peer at her from over his chest and grimaced.

‘I’m sorry, I’m not very good at clearing my mind, too many thoughts and not enough focus, mama said it made me ‘special’ and ‘quirky’, but the doctors said I had a chemical imbalance in the brain.’

‘I see, some Org’s have this trouble as well, though it does not mean you cannot accomplish a sending, we just have to change our method.’ Ma Rhea’za got to her feet and prompted Lance to do the same. ‘Instead of clearing your mind what I want you to do is think of someone or something that brings you peace and focus on it.’

Lance frowned but he closed his eyes and dug through his memories. Immediately he thought of his family but shied away when his heart clenched painfully; he loved them greatly but right now they were a source of painful feelings.

He thought of Hunk but his main dude, though sturdy as a rock in times of need, was a ball of anxious energy that Lance sometimes found his own anxieties feeding from.

Pidge was a bundle of endless energy and racing thoughts, her mind never sleeping, she didn’t offer calm as much as she offered certainty. Besides her catchphrase was ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’; she had no idea how to relax.

He tried to think of Allura or Coran, and though they were people he cared for deeply, there was a small bitter part of him that resented being dragged into their war, which was irrational and completely selfish, it was everyone’s war, he had the choice to leave but he chose to stay in order to protect his home. But that didn’t erase those niggling thoughts he wish he could extinguish.

Keith… no. Keith often threw his mind into a tailspin, the conflict of what was jealousy or… something else, a something else that often left him flustered, confused and jittery. A racing heart did not offer a sense of calm and tranquillity.

Hmm… Shiro. The man had been dragged through hell and back and somehow he still carried a presence that made them all feel like they could achieve anything. With a calm and reassuring presence he was always ready with an understanding smile and a supporting hand to the shoulder. He was everything that Lance had looked up to when he had dreams of becoming a pilot.

He was a leader through and through, but he was also their friend who was kind of a dork too.

He was the guy who joined in with his own version of laser blast sounds, the guy who would throw Lance exasperated looks when he made a particularly bad pun only to make one himself immediately after that were way funnier and cringier than his, the guy that was built for fighting but enjoyed doing face masks with Lance, or helping Hunk in the kitchen or jogging with Keith around the castle when he was feeling restless (or their version of jogging anyway, no one else was willing to keep up with either of them so it became their thing).

He was the guy that offered an ear when Allura needed someone to vent to and the only guy who would willingly sit with Pidge while she rambled, even when he understood very little of what she was saying (though he was very convincing at pretending he knew what she was talking about, there was a helpless look on his face after those sessions but when asked he always said that Pidge had good things planned – she normally always did afterall).

He was the very definition of patience and the only one with a strong enough mental will to still smile despite everything he had been through.

With Shiro at the centre of his thoughts Lance took a deep breath, counted to three and then exhaled slowly through his nose and when he opened his eyes, he was looking at the stars.

He blinked slowly before swivelling his head around in confusion, this looked awfully like Voltron’s astral plane with its endless sea of stars, painted with hues of purples, blues and reds.

What was he doing here?

Lance didn’t notice another presence until he felt a pressure on his right shoulder, a firm grip holding him securely. He didn’t need to look to know who it was. He smiled.

‘Shiro.’ He whispered. The grip tightened in reassurance and Lance sighed. He closed his eyes again and resumed his breathing, the pressure on his shoulder a steady support while he concentrated.

‘I’m not sure what’s going on Lance,’ Shiro’s voice came to him like a breeze, echoey and wispy, and as if it was coming from somewhere far away. ‘but I know that whatever it is, you can do it, I believe in you.’

And then Lance felt something slide into place in his mind and when he opened his eyes again he was back in the cavern with Ma Rhea’za and she was smiling down at him, pleased.

‘Hold onto that focus,’ She urged gently, offering Lance a hand to his feet, he took it and let himself be lifted. He lifted a hand to his chest and took a deep breath, those twinges of niggling anxiety that sat in his chest like a constant weight were inexplicably absent and he felt buoyant, like he was high on some kind of pain relief.

It was nothing like the medication the doctors had prescribed to help him focus when he was kid, the ones his mama had thrown away when saw how much they changed him.

Lance wasn’t very fond of that time either, at least with all his hyperactive anxiety he could still smile and laugh, the medication had been like a fog, it slowed him down and he’d always felt so lost and confused and angry.

Right now, he felt as if a curtain had been lifted and a warm summer breeze was caressing his face, his mind fell into a stunned silence, letting Lance enjoy the moment.

He thought of home and for a change it didn’t hurt.

‘Now watch me.’ Ma Rhea’za took a few steps back, she lifted her hand and pressed her fingertips to her chest, her eyes slid closed and she took a deep breathe, and then she began to move.

For someone of her size she moved with a grace that would have had any seasoned dancer green with envy, her arms moved with precision, lifting and falling in perfect arcs, she spun and swayed in controlled circles, her feet moving around each other with practiced ease. Her movements were slow and relaxed and Lance couldn’t look away, there was something about it that directed his focus solely on her.

She arched her back and dropped her head back, her arms splayed out open and welcoming, she held the pose before slowly straightening up, bringing her arms close to her body until she had them crossed over her chest and her fisted hands pressed over her shoulders. She bowed her head.

They stood in suspended silence, Lance awed and Ma Rhea’za collecting herself, and then she opened her eyes and dropped her arms and the moment ended. Lance almost sagged from the abruptness of it.

He straightened, smiling widely, his body flooding with excitement because it had been such a long time and he hoped he wasn’t out of practice.

‘A dance!’ Lance cheered. ‘This just became a lot more interesting. Fun fact, becoming a dancer was one of my contingency plans if I didn’t make it into the Garrison.’

‘Then you will be pleased to hear that most of our rituals require an element of rhythmic physical movement.’ Ma Rhea’za grinned. Lance whooped and immediately dropped down to begin some routine stretches.

‘Yes! I’m about to razzle dazzle the hell out of this ritual.’

‘Then I hope you are ready; I have been told that my teaching is merciless, and I do not accept sloppiness.’ Lance grinned.

‘Bring it, I had lessons with Miss Stern, a retired professional ballerina, and only cried twice, I can handle it.’

Ma Rhea’za’s answering grin was razor sharp.

***

It was probably thanks to all Shiro and Allura’s training time that Lance didn’t collapse into a heap from how hard his legs were shaking.

It wasn’t that the routine itself was particularly taxing or that Lance was out of shape, the moves were quite simple once you broke it down, but Ma Rhea’za had him going through it time and time again until the routine was burnt into his muscles.

They’d had a break in which Ma Rhea’za had explained why she was pushing him so hard. A single mistake – a misstep or mistimed movement – could botch the ritual and either achieve nothing or cause the spirits pain. He’d straightened up from his tired slouched position with a new determination and worked past the burgeoning pains in his muscles.

He was sure it was hours before Ma Rhea’za sat back pleased, her brows smoothing when Lance got through the entire routine flawlessly for the third time in a row. She clapped her hands together with a smile and Lance sagged forwards, dropping his hands to his knees and took a gasping breath. He looked up at Ma Rhea’za with a hopeful expression.

‘Well done Lance, it was perfect.’

Lance let himself fall to the floor with a groan, legs and arms splayed out, only this time he was grinning widely up at the ceiling, giddy with accomplishment. He lifted a shaky arm up, and held a fist in the air.

‘What did I tell you,’ He said, he then opened his hand and shook it around, ‘Razzle dazzle!’ And then his arm dropped back to the floor with a light thud.

‘You mastered the dance a lot faster than some of our initiates.’ Ma Rhea’za praised and Lance beamed. ‘The dances we perform for our rituals,’ Ma Rhea’za began to explain, Lance pushed himself up so he could pay better attention, ‘help open our auras and connect to Gaia, a druid's magic is born from the heart of Gaia therefore we excel in healing in both the physical and spiritual sense. The dance that I have taught you takes your aura and creates a song that draws in spirits, it’s a call they cannot resist which is why you need to be calm, you do not want to agitate or pain the spirits with conflicted emotions.’

Lance nodded in understanding, and looked down at his hands.

‘Mor’ghan mentioned that unsent spirits will eventually turn in to ghasts.’ Ma Rhea’za’s face darkened.

‘A spirit left to wander too long will eventually become bitter, the bitterness will turn into something dark and twisted, and that feeling will become so powerful that it will possess its own skeletal remains and draw in whatever is near to form a grotesque body. They are drawn to the living and will devour any poor unfortunate soul that they happen upon.’

‘Oh… that’s horrible.’ Lance feels vaguely sick at image that she had painted for him, thinking about all those spirits he’d seen in the forest, crying out for release, so many of them hurting…

‘It’s the worst fate that can happen to a fallen warrior.’

‘Yeah.’ He said quietly, a sombre air settling over the both of them.

‘Rok’oth has a deep fear of Druids, we are blessed with the ability to see the auras of those around us, had we looked closely we would have seen the beginnings of darkness within him but he has always kept his distance, a well-trained druid would have seen his corruption before it was too late but we never had reason to believe he would betray our Chieftain.’ She sneered. ‘And now he hunts us down, an agreement he has with the Galra according to Mor'ghan, because as long as the we remain, we can eventually heal the damage the Galra have inflicted upon Gaia. We have hidden and tried to mitigate what we could but there is not much we can to do without revealing ourselves.

‘And while we hide, spirits are left to wonder unsent.’ She finished with a sigh, the pain of that reality was reflected so clearly in her eyes, that Lance could feel it in his heart. 

‘Ma Rhea’za, I will find a way to bring Rok’oth down and I will save Gaia.’ He promised earnestly. She scanned his face and then her eyes went unfocused as if she was looking at something inside of him, she smiled after a moment.

‘ _We_ will save Gaia and bring down Rok’oth, together, you are not alone.’ And then she placed her hand over his head and ruffled his hair. The mood lightened with the affectionate gesture and Lance chuckled. ‘You have worked hard today; get some rest and we will meet again on the new sun.’

Lance got to his feet, legs still trembling, he waved at Ma Rhea’za before leaving the cavern and making his way back to Krillan and Kira’s place.

He waved absently to Krillan when he got in and only briefly questioned Kira’s absence before making excuses and heading to bed, Kosmo trailed behind him but instead of getting ready for bed he looked down at Kosmo.

‘Think you can take me up to the surface?’ He asked. Kosmo tilted his head and then inched forwards to lick at Lance’s hand. He took it as confirmation and smiled. ‘Thanks buddy, let’s go.’ He grabbed hold of Kosmo’s fur with a gentle grasp and with a crackle of energy and a silent pop, they disappeared.

***

Keith stopped his routine pacing to sit against the bars with a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He was pent up with excess energy and his restlessness was growing to be too much. He closed his eyes and immediately his thoughts turned to Lance.

He wondered if Lance would appear to him again. He hoped so, just so that he could confirm that it hadn’t all been some stress induced hallucination.

And, so that he could see Lance again, he could at least admit that much to himself. He believed Lance when he said he was ok but he just couldn’t settle his anxiety with Lance so far out of his reach. Was he truly safe? Were his supposed allies trustworthy? Would Lance hurt himself to save them? So many worrying thoughts and no way to get answers.

He’d only feel at ease once Lance was in front of him again.

A soft sound of surprise had him opening his eyes, Shiro sat across from him, staring down at his human hand with a furrowed brow. Up until now Shiro had been napping, or Keith had assumed he had been, but right now he looked alert, though a little puzzled.

‘What’s wrong?’ Keith asked, snapping Shiro out of his daze.

‘Nothing, but I think I was just in the astral plane.’ That grabbed everyone’s attention, Keith frowned, something like trepidation leaking into his gut, the last time Shiro had had anything to do with the Astral plane, his Quintessence had been trapped, was he being pulled back? He quickly looked over at Allura who seem to mirror his concern.

‘Did you feel the lions?’ Pidge asked, pressing her face against the bars.

‘No… I think… it was Lance.’

‘Lance?’ Everyone frowned, looking at each in confusion.

‘Yeah, I couldn’t quite make him out he was too bright, but I definitely recognised the colour of his quintessence, he was just standing there, but I felt him pulling at me, he needed my help.’

‘Did it seem like he was in trouble?’ Keith asked, desperation tinting the question. He jumped forwards to kneel in front of Shiro.

‘No, he didn’t feel scared, just unfocused, he needed help concentrating, I offered what help I could and I think I helped, there was this moment, just before I came to myself, something shifted and we entered this strange calm, all my troubles just drifted away and I felt peaceful.’ Shiro smiled softly. ‘It was nice.’

He formed a fist with the hand he’d been staring at and looked up at them all with resolve.

‘If any of you feel a pull, follow it, Lance needs our help and right now it’s the only way we can help him.’

‘So he’s really ok?’ Hunk asked with a small voice, his gaze shifted to the dented helmet that sat just outside their cell. 

‘I think so.’ Shiro answered easily. Keith bit his lip as he glanced away. He hadn’t told anyone about Lance’s late night visit in case he had been making it up but with Shiro’s experience maybe… it really had been Lance. He got to his feet.

‘Lance is ok, because he told me so himself.’ He announced. The others looked away from Shiro to frown at him in confusion. He took a deep breath and told them everything he knew.    


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sending and a mistake.

The forest was just as creepy and silent as Lance remembered it and this time he didn’t have a massive Org to keep him company. With a furrowed brow he looked down to meet Kosmo’s steady gaze and sighed.

‘Come on then, I think I remember the way.’

The tree with the Marmora carving was at their back which meant he just had to keep moving away from it. Kosmo could always bring him back if he got lost.

Together they trailed through the thick trees, slow and cautious, and stopping every so often to listen, the last thing that Lance wanted was to be ambushed and captured. Each time they stopped was met with only more silence and though it left him feeling uneasy – since nothing should ever sound this quiet in his opinion – he also felt relieved.

And there was never a point where Kosmo wasn’t touching him, the wolf would teleport Lance away faster than any hands could grab at him.

It was hard to tell what time of day it was down under the heavy boughs though, the mind could easily be tricked into believing it was perpetually night time here, but every so often Lance would catch a slight break in the dense foliage above him to see slivers of red skies, dusk.

It felt like an age had past before a faint mist began to pour through the tree line, growing thicker the further in Lance travelled.

And that’s when awareness began to seep into his consciousness as Gaia came to, the feeling he got was a spread of warmth as if she was stretching after a long nap. There was a moment where she just pulsed with comforting warmth before he felt the press of confusion and interest.

_What are you up to?_

Her tone was suspicious, sounding a lot like his mother when he was being too helpful to hide the fact he’d messed something up.

‘ _I thought you could read my mind?’_ He responded mentally and with a hint of cheek.

_I can but I did not wish to invade your privacy, it’s enough that you must share your body with me, you do not have to share your thoughts with me too._

Oh, he hadn’t thought about that. He blushed as he thought about what thoughts might have been crossing his mind in the last couple of days Gaia had been with him, a wild mixture of self-depreciation and confusing feelings no doubt. He was glad she hadn’t been listening, if more for her benefit then his, what ancient being wanted to be privy to his brand of teenage drama.

 _‘I appreciate_ that. _'_ He offered with a smile. _'_ _Where have you been all day?’_

_I have not missed that you have not answered my original question, but I will allow you to change the subject to answer this question. I have been resting, the Galra’s attacks on my body have drained me considerably._

_‘I’ve been wondering,’_ Lance thought conversationally, _‘how did you become a planet, at first I thought you were a planet that came to life or something but in that vision you showed me, you and Draisha had humanoid forms.’_

_Draisha and I were titans, beings born from the core of a dying star, we travelled the universe shaping planets and cultivating life, there are others like us but it is rare we meet given the vastness of space._

_‘How did you become a planet?’_

_We are immortal, but eventually we grow weary, unable to die, we choose to fall into an eternal slumber. In time, layers began to form using our bodies as a core, my physical body and my aura sprouted sustainable life and eventually, the Orgs began walking my surface._

_‘That’s crazy.’ He thought, frowning. ‘What does it mean that there are people that have compatible auras as you?’_

_Hmm… I have not thought on it, my previous champion was an Org, but if I had to guess I would say that you may have come from a planet I helped cultivate._

_‘Are you saying you made Earth!’_ That made Lance stumble as he tripped over his own feet in surprise.

_It is possible. I have formed many planets during my life, and it would be impossible for me to remember them all._

_‘Ok…’_ And then Lance giggled manically. Of all the years of scientific study into the creation of Earth and the solar system, Lance was the only human to know Earth’s true origin. And the funniest part was, no one would ever believe him. _‘so you may have created my home planet, does that mean any human could be compatible with you?’_

_Not at all. To give an infant planet life we feed it some of our Aura, only a little, just to encourage it along. But over time all things begin to deteriorate, if I had to guess I would say that a little part of the aura I left broke away and found a host, a new life that maybe needed a little push._

Lance stopped walking, frowning down at the floor as he thought about what that could mean. He had been the baby of the family, and for the longest time he had always believed that was why he had been the most sheltered, as a kid it hadn’t bothered him too much, he was a mama’s boy so he never complained about her over protective tendencies, at least not until he became older.

His sibling had had a lot more freedom then he did but it didn’t really became a problem until Lance started high school and wanted to do things like hang out with his new friends and go on dates, preferably without his mama calling him several times throughout the day to check on him.

Lance hated remembering the day he confronted her about it, he’d accused her of being over-bearing and suffocating him and had immediately regretted it when her eyes shimmered with tears and she began to apologise so earnestly.

His anger had fizzled out like a candle in the rain, because no matter how old Lance was, he was, and always would be, a mama’s boy. He’d wrapped her up in a hug and apologised over and over, crying messily over each other until they’d ended up on the kitchen floor, huddled together over a tub of caramel and macadamia nut ice cream.

And she confessed that when she was pregnant with him there was a time they thought he wouldn’t make it to full term, that his heart had been so weak, that he barely moved until one day, out of the blue, Lance kicked out so hard that his mama almost peed herself.

They’d been perplexed, and flooded with tears of relief, when they’d gone for a scan and were met with a strong heartbeat and a picture of a baby that looked like it was waving at them.

‘Mi pequeño milagro.’ _My little miracle._ She had whispered into his hair, he had heard her call him that before but now he finally understood. And now he also understood why she loved his particular brand of energy.

‘ _I think I understand, but people die all the time, so why me?’_

_Many reasons, but I like to believe that Fate had a little hand in it._

Lance snorted out loud and Kosmo looked up at him with a curious tilt to his head, Lance just smiled and gave him a scratch behind the ear in reassurance. But before he could ask Gaia anything else he looked up and froze.

Just through the trees he saw the glowing blue wisps, still floating along aimlessly as they had been the last time he’d seen them, and it was still just as haunting. The mist was up to his hips now and when he started moving forwards again it parted around him and swirled up until it faded into the air.

It was cold, his breath misting with each shaky exhale, he moved a little closer to Kosmo, for warmth, certainly not because he was scared.

 _Oh… I see._ Gaia said softly with understanding. _Are you sure this is wise?_

_‘Someone needs to send them.’_

_You have known the ritual for less then a day, there is a vast difference between practising the dance and performing an actual sending. If you make a mistake…_

_‘I won’t! I won’t, ok, you said I need to believe in myself more, well here I am believing in myself, I won’t mess it up, that’s not an option.’_ Lance argued.

Gaia was silent, and then he found himself sighing without really meaning to and blanched when he realised that wasn’t him sighing, it was Gaia. He sucked in a sharp breath and pressed his lips together. Should he be worried that Gaia was unconsciously controlling his body? Or maybe her sigh was so deep, he felt it, like catching a yawn.

_You are right, I feel your resolve and I know that it would be useless to try and talk you out of it but please… be careful. You have never performed a sending before and to immediately come and attempt one of this scale… there are many wondering unsent here, it hurts._

_‘I know.’_ Lance said gently, he knew how much pain Gaia carried because Lance had felt it all. He shuddered as he remembered, phantom aches building up over his skin like it remembered exactly what it felt to be torn apart. _‘I want to ease your pain, in any way that I can.’_ He confessed.

The warmth bubbled up in surprise and Lance got the impression that if Gaia was standing right in front of him, she’d be blinking at him, dumbfounded.

 _You… are doing this for me?_ She asked stiltedly.

 _‘Well, yeah, and for them of course but, I got a taste of pain you’re in and I can’t save you straight away, I still need to train, but I can at least try and ease some of your burdens._ _Right?_ ’

 _Lance…_ She chuckled deeply in the back of his mind and he smiled bashfully. _I think I can understand perfectly why my aura chose to latch onto you._

Lance startled back when a blue wisp materialised to his left and trailed slowly in front of his face, the accompanying mournful moan had Lance clenching his teeth uncomfortably. Once it passed by, he sighed and turned his head to watch it float off and then fade.

And then he took in the tree line and shivered, it was pitch black and all he could see was the heavy white mist the sat eerily still and the blue glowing wisps. When had it got so dark?

Pretending his legs weren’t shaking, Lance moved further in until he felt he was far enough in and looked down at Kosmo, whose ears were flicking around, agitated.

‘Hey,’ He said aloud, he grimaced because it sounded way too loud given their surroundings. Kosmo’s ears twitched his way before he looked up at Lance. ‘Watch my back, ok.’

And then Lance blew out a long breath, closed his eyes and focused on that calm the Shiro had gifted him.

It was hard, he was jumpy and nervous, surrounded by ghosts that had the potential to turn into flesh eating ghasts. But Kosmo was pressing himself against Lance and that helped, he wasn’t alone out here and if any threat appeared, Kosmo would have them out of there before anything could get them.

He started taking deep breaths, bringing Shiro to the forefront of his mind. _Patience yields focus._ That was the phrase he often aimed at Keith when Keith was stressed. _Patience yields focus._ He could do this, Shiro believed in him, he’d said as much.  _Patience yields focus._

It felt much longer coming this time but it did eventually and that slide of calm, combined with Gaia pulsing warmth, grounded him. He continued taking even breaths, in… out, in… out, in… and out.

Now… now was perfect.

He got into position, he’d practised this to death, the routine still burned into his muscles, he was aching and sore but he could do this one more time.

And so he began to dance, and as he danced he thought of them, the wisps, the spirits, the fallen warriors, peace, they needed to find peace, to no longer be tethered here with no direction, to no longer suffer, unsent and bitter. They’d earned their rest.

Eyes still closed, he continued to dance, and just when as he was beginning to worry that nothing was going to happen, he began to feel a light energy building under his skin, branching out to fill every part of him. He resisted the urge to speed up his dance, it was important that he kept it steady and relaxed.

It all mattered in the end.

The energy was building higher and higher until it felt like his skin was buzzing, it was kind of uncomfortable, but he refused to break composure now, he needed to finish this because an incomplete ritual could be just as devastating as a ritual done wrong.

The warmth in the base of his skull was pulsing thickly, Gaia feeding the growing power with her own, making it almost feel like too much, it was at the point of uncomfortably full, where he thinks he might burst if he builds up too much more.

But finally he was reaching the end of the dance and he poured all of his attention towards the wisps. _Hear me. Hear me. Please, hear me!_ He chanted in his head and then he spread his arms out and threw his head back, arching his back just like Ma Rhea’za had taught him, leaving him open and vulnerable, as is the intention, to prove he had no hidden agenda.

The energy that had been buzzing under his skin burst free, one silent giant wave of white light travelled outwards, covering the whole area and further until it could no longer be seen through the tree line.

He held the position long enough that he began to feel a twinge in his lower back and slowly pulled himself back up, he brought his arms up and crossed them over his chest, it was apparently a traditional sign of respect and gratitude.

And, it also meant that it was the end of the ritual.

He opened his eyes slowly, afraid of what he might find and almost stumbled over Kosmo when he found himself surrounded by what had to be hundreds of translucent fully formed Orgs. He looked over his shoulder to find more, he was completely surrounded.

Had he done something wrong? They didn’t seem hostile, they just stood silent and still, watching Lance as if they were waiting for something. Shit, had he missed something? 

_Lance, please, I need… to talk to them, please._

Lance closed his eyes and sighed. This was going to suck.

‘Alright.’ He whispered.

This time the transition from pilot seat to passenger seat was smoother, Gaia, with gentle hands, guided him back and took his place but it didn’t make him feel any less frightened by the lack of control. And hearing his own voice layered with Gaia was no less jarring.

‘My children, I am so sorry that you have been left to wonder in undeath for so long, but I’m here now and I will watch over your passing, please, find peace, my warriors.’

All the Orgs, in unison, crossed their arms and bowed their head and then one by one they began to glow brighter until they burst into dazzling shards that vanished into the air. Gaia, in Lance’s body, watched until the very last Org disappeared, she wiped a tear from Lance’s face and allowed herself a small smile before falling back into Lance and guiding him forwards. She could taste his fear and it ached, so she patiently guided him back in, reminding him to breath as he tested his control.

Something wasn’t right. Lance was back in full control, he could feel that much, but something wasn’t right in his chest. Something hot was growing, spreading out and licking at his lungs.

Fire. There was a fire in his heart and it was spreading faster then a spark in dry bush.

He whimpered, falling to his knees as he clutched uselessly at his chest, he could barely catch his breath without feeling as if it were fanning the flames.

 _Lance?_ Gaia sounded confused, as if she couldn't feel the inferno building hotter and hotter.

Lance couldn’t answer, he was sure if he opened his mouth now, he might scream, and in this moment he couldn’t remember why that would be a bad idea only that he knew it was. He wasn’t sure he could gather a cognisant thought to answer her mentally either.

So, he suffered in silence, dropping to the forest floor and curling up into a fetal position. Something soft snuffled at his face, they licked his cheek softly with a small whine and then with a crackle, the world vanished.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A leech and an awakening

Lance opened his eyes, and promptly closed them again.

‘No.’ Lance sighed, forcing a smile. ‘I’m am going to open my eyes and I am going to be in a nice comfy bed.’ He opened his eyes. He was not in a bed. In fact, he didn’t even appear to be inside. No matter which direction he looked in, all he saw was a barren wasteland.

He was going to have some real trouble with his sleeping pattern after all this was over or start sleep-walking again.

The ground was dry and cracked, as if he had never seen a drop of rain, the landscape littered with fissures as far as the eye could see. He had a feeling this wasn’t what it was supposed to look like though, he thought with sadness, he looked over at the large clusters of husks that were once trees, the dry bush that cracked and crumbled under it’s own weight and the way he had to swallow around the dryness in his throat.

It was all dry and dead.

 _I was beautiful once._ He remembered Gaia telling him, the first things she’d ever said to him in fact. And he wondered…

He saw something dark move from the corner of his eye and turned to look, with his heart in his throat and frowned down at the ground. Something dark, thick and shapeless squirmed at the floor, as if it was trying to bury itself into the fissures, he pulled a face because it kind of reminded him of a leech.

He took a cautious step closer, feeling highly uncomfortable, and moving as quietly as he could, just in case it startled and leapt at him.

He still couldn’t tell what it was, but he could see now that it pulsed with an insidious energy. Swallowing nervously, he crouched down to get a closer look, with what he hoped was enough distance between them, and pulled a face.

It looked as if it should be slimy, like a slug, but it left no viscous residue as it flopped around uselessly, really trying to squeeze its way in to the crack.

And it was a deep purple.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Fucking Galra.

He’d seen it enough to know what corrupted quintessence looked like, though it was the first time he’d seen it take this form. He stood up and put some distance between them.

_I was beautiful once._

He grit his teeth and put the pieces together.

He’d been in the forest, he’d performed the sending successfully but he had allowed Gaia to take over, against his better judgement, but when they’d tried to swap back… he’d been engulfed in flames… no that wasn’t right, the fire had started from inside him, consuming everything in its path. Logically he knew he hadn’t actually been on fire, but it sure as fuck felt like it.

He couldn’t recall if it was less or more painful then the first time.

He shook his head, if he thought about it too hard, he might cry.

He was fairly certain by this point that this was Gaia’s Astral plane, the same place where they had first spoken, it was possible that Lance had decided to check out when the pain had got too much, but why wasn’t Gaia here? Because if he was here and she wasn’t, didn’t that mean she was still in his body?

Now that was a scary thought. Gaia had promised she had no intention of taking his body, but it would make things easier right? She wouldn’t have to wait for him to get stronger, or deal with his insecurities, or be crippled whenever his body decided it wasn’t strong enough to handle Gaia’s power.

Because that’s what it had to be, right? The burning, Gaia had pumped him full of her magic to help him through the sending, maybe Li’rana had had a point and that his noodle body wasn’t enough. Would the right thing to do in this situation be to step back and let Gaia have his body?

But what if he couldn’t go back, or what if he did and he couldn’t remember how to control his body, the struggle to control it after Gaia had been in charge had been real and that was only after a few minutes.

Could he really allow that though? He still had his friends to save, and fee– things to figure out, and not to mention he still had a universe to save.

No, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. That decided, he wasn’t actually sure how to leave here, last time he had jumped off the edge of Gaia’s plateau. Or maybe he could wait, the last time his body had been exposed to Gaia’s pain the Druids had performed a salve ritual, maybe there were doing it again, he vaguely recalled Ma Rhea’za saying it wouldn’t be a permanent solution.

Unless he was still laying prone in the middle of the forest. That… wouldn’t be good. No, Kosmo was with him, he would have known what to do.

So until he could figure out what to do, he was stuck here.

He blew out a long breath and patted his hands against his thighs awkwardly, he looked over the landscape until his eyes landed on the slug thing and he pursed his lips in thought.

It was still squirming pathetically, not making any progress in its attempt to burrow into the crack. He moved closer and squatted next to it. ‘What to do with you?’ He murmured.

He and Gaia were connected and it was clear she had some control over his aura, maybe if it’s as equal as she claimed it was then Lance should have some control with hers. It was worth a try, because whatever this thing was, it wasn’t good and definitely shouldn't be here.

He closed his eyes and willed it to disappear but when he opened his eyes it was still there, and not because his attempt had been useless. The thing had gone still, giving up on its attempt to burying itself and with a swiftness that had Lance stumbling away with a sharp cry of alarm, the thing flopped violently to the side and latched on to the ground with a sucker like protrusion. Like fluid, it altered it’s shape erratically, like it recognised that someone was attempting to remove it and was panicking.

Ok, so it was somewhat sentient and that was totally freaky, but that was fine, he would try a different tactic. He was a bit more wary about closing his eyes so this time he squirmed a bit further back before doing so. He visualised a different outcome and when he opened his eyes, he smiled.

Where the thing had been, now sat a sturdy metal box.

Lance was quite proud of his ability to compartmentalize the things he didn’t want to deal with into neat boxes that sat in the deepest parts of his mind, it might be considered unhealthy, but he had promised himself that when they finally brought down the Galran Empire and he had time to rest, he would unpack it all.

The point was that Lance was good at making some pretty sturdy boxes.

He stood up and edged closer, slowly he brought a foot up and kicked the box lightly, enough to knock it on its side and breathed a sigh of relief to see no black sludge remained.

Good. That was good. Only when he looked up, he choked on a breath and blanched. What the heck? All over the landscape, were more of those leech things, all moving just as sluggishly as the first had been as they tried to push into the cracks.

Where had they even come from because they definitely hadn’t been there before, they were kind of hard to miss, given everything was drained of colour and lifeless, and their deep purple shade and flip flopping around really made them stand out.   

 _Geez_ , he thought with a groan, _I can never catch a freaking break_.

But it’s not like he had anything better to do right now so with a deep breath, he shoved on his mental big boy pants and got started.

 

Lance stopped after an indeterminable amount of time and stretched. He was pulling some major mental weight and he was sure if he had a body right now, he’d have a killer headache. As it was he just felt tired.

He looked behind himself, over all of the work he’d done, boxes littered the landscape sporadically and it wasn’t pretty but it was better than looking at all those things squirming around.

He just couldn’t work out what the Galra’s intentions were? Draining Gaia’s almost limitless field of Quintessence would be the natural conclusion but those things, though they resembled leeches, weren’t trying to feed from her, they were trying to bury under. But why?

He turned back to face the front and frowned, there were still so many of these things.

But apparently that was a problem for future Lance because the only warning he got was an uncomfortable tug in his gut before everything just vanished and he was gasping awake, choking on water.

Someone was pushing hands under his back and propping him up, and Lance was too overwhelmed by everything to care that he was naked again. His body felt heavy and sluggish, and he was panicking because his own body felt so unfamiliar, he could barely catch his breath, his mind running in circles trying to make sense of what was happening.

There was a hand in his hair, running over it in a soothing manner, he tried to focus on it even when his thoughts screamed at him unintelligibly.

‘Easy Little one, take deep breaths now, I have you, you are safe.’ The deep rumbling voice was familiar, with a shaking hand he reached up and wrapped his hand around the large forearm that was wrapped loosely across his torso. The physical contact was far more grounding, he could feel it, the skin against the palm (his palm, it was his) was rough and taut over corded muscle. His pinky finger brushed against a grainy thick leather band that stretched around the thick wrist.

He was in the pool again, the warm water covered his legs and hips making him feel weightless, but every ragged breath made the water lap up his stomach and sides, it might have been ticklish if Lance hadn't been so out of it.

At his back he could feel the rise and fall of another person breathing, the scratchy material of their clothing making his skin tingle with awareness.

He focused on all the sensations, because touch was his way of grounding himself when things got to be too much. Lance was a tactile person, it’s how he coped. Every hug Hunk gave him, every time he threw an arm around Pidge’s shoulders, every single time he pressed his shoulder against Keith’s, all the times Shiro patted his back, or Coran ruffled his hair, actions that might have been overlooked by most people are what kept Lance from losing his mind sometimes.

No one wanted to see a touch starved Lance.

His grip tightened slightly before he let go and patted the arm twice, it loosened but it didn’t let go completely.

‘I’m… I’m ok.’ He got out, and with the help of the Org behind him, Lance sat up. He ran a hand over his face to brush away the water dripping into his eyes and pushed his hair back. A hand was still on his back and he appreciated it.

He looked over his shoulder and gave Mor’ghan a reassuring smile. He was frowning heavily but when he caught Lance’s eye his expression softened to something like relief.

‘You have aged us all by at least ten decaphoebs.’ He grumbled, good-naturedly and Lance chuckled.

‘I’m sorry,’ He said, ‘What happened?’ He asked.

‘I tell you what happened!’ Came a shout, followed by some angry splashing and Lance’s eyes widened. Mor’ghan looked over his shoulder which gave Lance a brief view of a very pissed off Kira wading through the water.

Lance swore, in a flurry of movements he got into a position that hid all his vitals, while also making sure that Mor’ghan remained between them, as a shield.

‘You disappear off to who knows where and then, and then,’ she flailed in clear outrage, ‘your wolf pops in out of no where and drops you on our dinner like some quiznacking gift, except you’re convulsing and screaming.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He squeaked.

‘What the hell were you even doing?’ She fumed.

‘Can I explain once I get some clothes on.’

Kira made an aborted sound that turned into a close-mouthed screech before she threw a towel at him and stomping back to the edge of the pool, where Krillan, Ma Rhea’za and Sha’rah were waiting. He couldn't get a read on Ma Rhea’za’s face, but he couldn't help but feel that she might be disappointed in him. He looked down at the water and swallowed back his hurt.

He had probably earned it this time.

Except he was confronted with a new problem when he saw the face reflected on the water surface, it was his but... his mouth fell open in confusion and horror. With a shaky hand he reached up and brushed his fingers over the patch of hair on the left side of his face. It was white, like pure white. His fingers moved from the hair to the glowing line that trailed from under his hair line, down the centre of his forehead to stop just above the space between his eyebrows. He followed it with his fingers and gulped anxiously.

 _‘Gaia?’_ He called out in his head. She didn’t answer at first, a sensation where the warmth normally pulsed, felt thick and cloying and a sensation he recognised as guilt built up in his chest. Except it wasn't his guilt he was feeling.

 _I am so sorry._ Came an uncharacteristically meek response. _You almost died,_ which was a heck of a surprise to Lance, _and it’s all my fault._


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some validation and support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This little old story of mine has breached 2000 hits and 200 kudos and I'm thrilled and it has really motivated me to get a push on with my writing so as a thank you I'm posting my next chapter early and it's a lengthier one than usual, so please enjoy! x

In a daze, Lance was pulled out of the pool, guided by Mor’ghan, who kept giving him worried glances, but Lance was too preoccupied to offer reassurance. He barely even noticed a cloak being dropped across his shoulder or the hand on his back that gently pushed him to sit on a rock at the edge of the pool.

Gaia had fallen silent after dropping that bombshell, but Lance still understood nothing. Why was his hair turning white and markings appearing on his face, similar to the ones he knew Gaia had? Was the reason he was stuck in Gaia’s Plane the same reason Shiro had been stuck in Black’s? And what if they hadn’t managed to save him, then what? Would he have been stuck in that plane with all those gross blob things, never knowing that he had…?

 _‘Gaia? Please, I don’t understand. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough. Please don’t shut me out.’_ He pleaded, so out of it he wasn’t even aware that he had been saying it all out loud. He missed the concerned looks the others shared over his head.

Lance was too busy spiralling again, Gaia wasn’t answering, and he wasn’t sure how to take that. Surely it meant that she had changed her mind, their auras may be compatible, but Lance just wasn’t strong enough. Could she undo the bond? Was that possible? He couldn’t remember what she’d said. Maybe she couldn’t and he’d stupidly trapped the aura of a titan in his weak body. Crap… so stupid, so stupid, so stupid, so-

_LANCE!_

Lance was yanked abruptly from his thoughts when he was pulled into a tight hug. He gasped, his eyes going wide, Mor’ghan was massive so it made sense that Lance would feel small, but right now he felt like a child in a dad’s embrace. Unbidden, his vision wavered as tears filled his eyes and trickled down over his cheeks to drip from his chin.

And then he was sobbing, crying so hard that his body shook from the force of each sob that was torn out of him. He buried his face against Mor’ghan’s chest and clung to him helplessly while he crumbled under the weight of everything.

It’s only once he had started to calm down that he heard the quiet and pained litany of apologies in his mind.

His sobs quietened to hiccups, and Mor’ghan held him through it all, not at all seeming impatient or bothered. He had a big hand cradling the back of Lance’s head and another rubbing circles over his back through the cloak. It was nice and it had been a while since anyone had held Lance like this, not since being back home.

Eventually Lance pulled back and Mor’ghan loosened his grip and leant back to give Lance some space. Using the cloak that had been placed over his shoulders, he wiped away the tears and snot with an embarrassed laugh.

‘I’m sorry.’ He mumbled ‘This is so embarrassing.’

‘You have done nothing wrong.’ Mor’ghan assured him, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder, Lance smiled. ‘It is normal to feel emotional after a near death experience.’

‘Mor’ghan!’ Ma Rhea’za snapped, making Lance jump, it was only then that he noticed her sitting to their right, perched on a rock, her feet in the pool. Sha’rah had left at some point but Kira and Krillan sat against the wall across from them, both watching him in concern, that was until Kira noticed him looking, she schooled her expression and looked away. Krillan gave Lance a thumbs up adn Lance mustered up a smile.

Mor’ghan was giving Ma Rhea’za a sheepish look and it became apparent that Lance wasn’t supposed to have known about his almost death. The funny thing was, that wasn’t even what had upset him the most.

‘It’s alright, Gaia already told me.’ He said. ‘And I’m a paladin of Voltron near death experiences are part of the job descriptions.’

Mor’ghan and Ma Rhea’za shared a concerned look and he bristled. ‘I mean, it’s not like I’m always nearly dying or something, dying once was enough for me, thank you.’ He laughed but judging by the appalled look on Ma Rhea’za’s face it might have been the wrong thing to say.

‘Do humans normally make light of tragic circumstances, because I do not find your death at all humorous.’

‘No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… it’s a me thing, I use humour as a way to cope with things sometimes and I realise it might come across as callous, but I do actually care very much whether I live or die.’

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Mor’ghan said gruffly, ‘I have found myself growing quite fond of you in the time that I have known you and I would be troubled deeply by your death.’

‘Oh, I’ll try not to die then.’ He rushed out, awkwardly. ‘Um, but what happened exactly, I’m a bit hazy on the details?’

‘I’m afraid the blame for this falls on Gaia’s shoulders.’ Ma Rhea’za said, with not a hint of contrition, but with a sigh she added, ‘And mine.’

‘But you guys did nothing wrong!’ He snapped. ‘I was the one who was too weak.’

‘Is that what you think?’ Ma Rhea’za asked, turning her whole body to face him with open surprise, when all he did was drop his gaze, she sighed. ‘Lance, let me make this clear for you, you performed a successful sending only after a day of training, and yes, I know that’s where you went after our session, Gaia explained everything. Look at me Lance, please.’

Only after a few seconds of hesitation did Lance look up, to find she was frowning.

‘Your actions were hasty and reckless, Rok’oth is still looking for you and you were lucky that you were not found, but, as thoughtless as your actions were, your intentions were not. I realise now that it had probably been your intention since the moment you asked me to teach you and I thank you Lance, for doing what we were too cowardly to do and honouring those fallen.’

‘I just wanted to help.’ He confessed bashfully. ‘I’m still training and although what I did today was probably just a drop in an ocean, I wanted to do something.’ Ma Rhea’za watched him for a moment with a strange look on her face that he couldn't place before she seemed to come to a realisation. She tilted her head to the side.

‘You don’t realise, do you,’ She murmured with a bewildered tone, ‘Lance, you didn’t just send the spirits in that clearing, you sent every spirit that still remained in the whole forest and a good portion of every land that borders it. And this is where my part of the of the blame lies, though to be fair, I also did not expect you to go out and attempt a sending straight away.’ She scolded lightly making Lance blush with shame.

‘The direction of your thoughts were too vague,’ She continued, ‘it is common practise to learn how the Orgs fell so you don’t accidentally overexert you’re aura trying to call out to every unsent in the area. In the case of the ones you passed with Mor’ghan, on the day you arrived here, they were the spirits of fallen druids that attempted to escape Rok’oth’s purge when he took control of the capital, they fell at the hands of the Galra, at Rok’oth’s command.’

She reached up and toyed with a trinket that hung from her neck. It was a small red stone and when it caught the light, Lance swore he almost saw fire at the centre. A tawny feather and smattering of pretty stone hung from the bottom of it. It was pretty.  

‘Among them was my intended mate… therefore you can imagine that it weighed heavily on my soul to leave them unsent.’ She smiled sadly but Lance could see that shadow of an old pain in her eyes. ‘Gaia amplified your energy with too much enthusiasm, and when you released it, that wave of energy travelled out to cover all it could. Every druid here felt it pass over us and, when the weight of the fallen lifted from our shoulders as they passed on.’

‘So, I did good, right?’ He prompted.

‘You did good,’ She praised with a fond smile. ‘But you were reckless, if Gaia had not contributed to your pool of energy the strain would have killed you, that being said, Gaia pushed far too much of her raw energy into you, your human body was too unprepared to handle that much power in one go.’

So, it was just as he thought, he was too weak. ‘Wipe that look of your face, I did not say you were too weak, just unprepared.’ Lance just frowned, confused.

‘Look at it this way,’ Mor’ghan must have seen the confusion on his face, so he took over, he lifted Lance's hands and put them together to form a cup, ‘what happens if you overfill a container?’

‘It spills over.’

‘Hmm, Gaia, though her intentions were to help, overfilled your container and your body doesn’t know what to do with all the excess energy left over from the over-spill, which caused your heart to shut down.’ He placed his hands under Lance’s, his larger ones making a larger cup. ‘With training and patience, you can increase the size of your container to be able to channel Gaia’s power.’ He closed his hands around Lance’s and smiled. ‘You are capable Little One, you have proven this already so do not doubt yourself now.’

Lance swallowed back a swell of emotion and bit his lip to stop the wobble. He nodded with a wet sound of assent and Mor’ghan chuckled lightly, ruffling Lance’s hair affectionately. 

‘There is one more thing I wish to discuss with you.’ Ma Rhea’za said sounding serious, Lance rubbed at his face before looking up at her. ‘Please be cautious when you allow Gaia to take control of your body.’

‘Why?’ Not that Lance was in any rush to let Gaia take control again any time soon, but he had already messed things up being uninformed, so he asked.

‘The salving ritual my druids and I performed the first time acted as a barrier to prevent you feeling her pain, but also to keep you from losing yourself to her power, every time Gaia takes control the barrier weakens, it would not be hard for an aura like Gaia’s to accidentally swallow yours up.’

So, Lance had been right to fear that. He swallowed around the panic that had lodged itself in his throat and put on a brave face.

‘I’m not that eager for it to happen again… it’s scary.’ He confessed quietly.

‘I do not believe Gaia is eager to try it again either, but should it occur I want you to come to me, and we will strengthen the barrier.’ Ma Rhea’za reached up and tucked the new white patch of hair behind his ear and smiled sadly. ‘If you ever feel lost, rely on us, and we will guide you back.’

Lance impulsively reached up and grabbed her hand before she could drop it and squeezed it gently.

‘Thank you,’ He rushed out. She smiled and squeezed his hand in return before letting go and getting to her feet.

‘Rest well, Lance.’ She offered.

‘I have something I must discuss with you, Rhea, before I depart.’ Mor’ghan said getting to his feet too, he looked down at Lance and grinned. ‘See if you can stay out of trouble until the next time we meet.’

‘Trouble? I don’t know the meaning of the word.’ Lance grinned back, drumming up a little bit of cheek.

‘Ha!’ With a chortle and wave over his shoulder Mor’ghan followed Ma Rhea’za out of the cavern.

All things considered, Lance was feeling quite positive, exhausted and ready to collapse into a heap once he got to his bed, but he felt somewhat hopeful again.

And then his eyes met Kira’s and his good vibes turned to smoke, in it's place sat an anxious kind of dread, the kind only an angry knife wielding female could summon. She was standing with her arms crossed, hip cocked and foot tapping, with an expression that violently reminded him of Keith. He pushed aside the sting in his chest and raised his hands defensively.

‘So, before you throw hands, I would just like to remind you that I almost died so please go easy on me.’

Kira’s expression didn’t change, her foot did stop tapping with a very threatening finality.

‘Oh, wow, such a funny guy.’ She drawled with an impressively deadpan face. ‘Did you hear that uncle, he’s so funny.’

‘Hilarious.’ Krillan chimed in.

‘Do you want to know what’s not funny though.’ She growled, her eyes narrowing. Lance got the feeling she wasn’t really looking for an answer. ‘Watching you die over my dinner, because there was nothing near death about it, you died, your heart, it stopped beating and Krillan had to resuscitate you while I got help.’

Lance dropped his gaze guiltily, but this seemed to only irritate Kira further, she clicked her tongue and Lance flinched.

‘I’m s-‘

‘You say sorry and I’ll kick you arse.’ She snapped.

‘Then what do you want from me?’ He finally snapped, fed up of the whiplash his interactions with Kira were giving him.

‘Get better, get stronger, and stop with all this self-sacrificial bullshit! No one has asked you to die for them so get with the programme already!’ She shouted. Her outburst was followed by a tense silence where Lance looked over at Krillan and Lance finally understood. Krillan had already explained it to him once and Lance let go of his irritation and gave Kira an apologetic smile, she frowned in response.

‘I’m sorry I scared you.’ He said gently.

Kira seemed to puff up with embarrassment, her cheeks flaring red and her eyes widening.

‘I wasn’t scared, how dare you assume… I mean, the audacity… are you hearing this uncle, me, scared.’ She snorted. ‘Dying must have scrambled your brains.’ She turned on the spot, stomped off a few steps before stopping and spinning around to point accusingly at Lance. ‘I do not get scared.’ She growled before finally storming out of the room, leaving behind a bemused Lance and an amused Krillan; who was shaking with silent laughter.

‘Wow…’ Lance breathed. ‘And people say that I’m extra but this is…’ And then he laughed. ‘She reminds me of Rachel.’ He thought fondly.

‘Who’s Rachel?’ Krillan asked.

‘My sister, she’d sooner die then admit she has emotions, but I know her secret,’ Lance grinned, ‘I saw her cry once over how cute a puppy was, not that anyone would believe me of course, but I saw it.’

Krillan’s grin widened with Lance’s, he stood up and limped towards Lance and sat on the rocky mound that Ma Rhea’za had left open, he leaned in with a mischievous look.

‘Kira once cried because a yuffler pup nipped her finger, she said that his teeth were sharp but the truth was, she was upset that the yuffler didn’t seem to like her.’ Lance chuckled lightly.

‘Let me guess, she said, _‘I didn’t want to pet it anyway.’_ ’ He guessed. Krillan let out a bark of laughter and settled a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

‘She did, though it was a little hard to believe her when she was sniffling.’ He laughed fondly to himself. ‘You know she’s desperate to pet Kosmo.’

‘She should, he’s the best boy who gives the best cuddles, might give her some chill.’ He said the last part under his breath but Krillan heard him anyway and snorted.

There was a moment of silence between them before Krillan released a lengthy sigh, his smile turned down a little and he watched Lance from the corner of his eye while Lance pretended not to notice, there was indecision on his face but he must have reached a conclusion because he straightened up and faced Lance.

‘Did Kira ever tell you about how we came to be here?’

‘No, I just assumed the Blade had sent you.’ Lance admitted with a small shrug.

‘Kira and I were stationed in an outpost that monitored Galra activity within this sector, I had intercepted some intel, plans to invade Gaia. I wanted to prevent it before it could occur, and I knew enough about the planets inhabitants to know that they could defend themselves with enough warning.

‘But of course I had Kira with me, she must have been about fifteen at the time, so my job was to redirect intel to Blade base and another would take the mission, but it could have taken too long and I… was restless.’ Krillan hunched over, resting his elbows on his thighs and running a hand through the strands of hair at the base of his neck. ‘As Kira’s sole caregiver, Kolivan had removed me from active duty and I was… less then happy about that, but do not misunderstand, I love Kira dearly, and she has certainly kept me plenty busy growing up,’ Krillan chuckled, his expression softening. ‘I just wished my sister had chosen a different way, a way she could be with her whole family, and I could have been the one to protect them from out here, but, she can be difficult to dissuade once she sets a path for herself.’ He smiled wrly. ‘So, she Left a baby Kira with me where she knew she would be safe and left to protect…’ He trailed off but Lance knew, he’d already guessed as much so he huffed out a short laugh.

‘I guess I know where Keith gets his stubbornness from now.’ Lance said and Krillan startled at the mention of Keith’s name, his surprise fading to something fond.

‘Figured they’d both inherit Krolia’s most frustrating trait.’ He sniped in a way only a brother could, annoyed but fond. ‘But do me a favour, don’t tell Kira about this, she doesn’t know yet and when the time comes, I’d like to be the one to tell her.’

Part of him wanted to protest, Keith had grown up thinking he was alone, and now Lance sat with the knowledge that he had a whole family. Would Keith forgive him for keeping it a secret, because if Kira couldn’t know then what good would it do to tell Keith? He mimicked Krillan’s hunched position and ran both his hands through his hair aggressively with a whine of frustration.

But then again it wasn’t really Lance’s place to interfere. He sighed, defeated.

‘Fine, I can keep my mouth shut, but if both of them get mad at me,’ and the idea of being confronted by two angry Koganes was enough to make him shiver, especially when the image of an angry Krolia loomed over them both, ‘I’m blaming you.’

‘Noted.’ Krillan inclined his head in thanks before his expression turned serious. ‘I’ve gone off topic.’ He said in chiding tone, he closed his eyes and shook his head before refocusing. ‘As I was saying, I was restless, and I made the reckless decision to take Kira and myself down to Gaia, we met with the Chieftain, who was welcoming despite what we had heard of the Orgs, and he agreed to listen us, at the time I had no idea that the Galra empire had already sunk their claws in.

‘Rok’oth was one of the Great Chieftain’s champions, we had no reason to suspect he was working with the Galra.’ Krillan fisted his hands, his knuckles turning pale purple, and his teeth were clenched so tightly that Lance could see the tick building in his jaw. ‘I saw the blade too late and I watched, unable to act as Rok’oth pierced the Chieftain he had sworn to protect through the back, I was forced to watch the life leave his eyes, and he had such kind eyes Lance, the kind that saw good in everything.’ Krillan fell silent, eyes down to the ground, Lance could see that he was probably reliving the moment and he would recognise that guilty look on his face anywhere.

‘Krillan, it wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know that Rok’oth was a traitor, you couldn’t have known.’

‘…I believe that it was my presence that forced Rok’oth hand.’ Krillan admitted slowly, but Lance shook his head.

‘Doesn’t alter the fact that he was always going to betray them in the end, your intentions were good and I’m sure that the Great Chieftain knew that before he died.’ Lance looked down in thought. ‘And at least this way everyone knows that Rok’oth betrayed them to the Empire, he’s forced to control them through taking hostages and making threats, he doesn’t have the Org's loyalty.’ He said with complete certainty.

Krillan was looking at him with such an intensity it had Lance feeling self-conscious, he was about to ask when Krillan scoffed quietly and shook his head with a smile.

‘You are impossible, here I am trying to offer a shoulder for you to cry on and you turn it around on me.’

‘Sorry?’ Lance offered confused.

‘Don’t be, it’s not a bad trait to have but how about letting other people comfort you for a change, you do not have to shoulder other’s burdens when you’re still balancing your own, and death, is not an easy one to shoulder.’ Krillan offered delicately and understanding dawned on Lance abruptly. He looked down at the floor.

‘Oh.’ He said, looking down at his hands.

‘When the Chieftain fell, I engaged Rok’oth, I failed and he cut me down,’ He ran a hand over his thigh almost absent-mindedly as he said this, ‘he left me to die and It was close too, I could feel the life leaving me and I was so sure I was going to die on that forest floor when Kira appeared,’ He smiled softly. ‘How could I leave my niece all alone, I was all she had, so I held on and with her help we found the druids and they saved me. I'm obviously crippled now but I am grateful to be alive.  

‘What I’m trying to say is this, I understand, Lance, better than you might think about how you might be feeling and though I accept we all have our own ways of dealing with things, death isn’t so easy to brush off.’ He reached over and grasped Lance’s shoulder again and Lance found himself leaning into the touch because it offered a sense of reassurance. ‘We are here when you are ready to talk.’

Lance was slow to reciprocate the smile that Krillan was giving him but eventually the corners of his lips tilted up to match his and Krillan squeezed his shoulder once before letting go and getting to his feet. ‘Now come on, you need food and rest, and I know a certain wolf that has been eager to see you.’

Wrapping the cloak tighter around himself, he got to his feet and ignored the trembling as best he could as he followed Krillan out.

He had a lot to think about, but two things were certain, he needed to talk to Gaia, who had remained purposefully absent, even if he could feel her guilt like thick molasses in the back of his mind, and, that he really wanted to see his friends.

But there was one thing he needed to say first.

‘Krillan?’ Krillan looked over his shoulder with a hum of acknowledgement and Lance beamed at him. ‘Thank you.’ He paused. ‘For saving my life.’

‘Oh, Kid,’ Krillan fell back and threw an arm over Lance’s shoulder. ‘No problem,’ Then Krillan grinned wickedly, ‘I could hardly let my nephew’s mate die, now could I?’

Lance’s squawks of embarrassment could be heard all through out the caverns. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, just a huge thank you to everyone that has kept up with this story so far, and for those who have just tuned in. I hope you all continue to enjoy this fic! :) x


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff and feelings.

Gaia was being stubborn, and Lance had gone from trying to gently cajole her out of hiding to frustratedly telling the titan to stop being such a big baby and talk to him already. Neither had worked and Gaia continued to sulk in whatever corner of his body she’d banished herself to.

Lance flopped down and buried himself deeper into his nest of furs and leathers which had become his makeshift bed in the room he’d claimed for himself. Kosmo – who had barely left his side since he had got back – shifted to accommodate, flopping his big head on Lance’s stomach once he’d gotten comfortable, Lance reached up to stroke his hand over Kosmo’s head in reassurance, both for Kosmo and for himself.

He still had so many questions and he was determined this time not to mess anything up so he needed to be better informed and prepared, and though he was eager to learn to the point that he was almost brimming with anxious energy, everyone had told him that he needed to rest.

And he understood, really, he did, but his mind was in overdrive, trying to fill all the gaps in his knowledge but getting frustrated with himself when he came up blank because _someone_ was ignoring him.

 _‘You’re going to have to talk to me at some point, you know?’_ He chided with his inner voice. He was met with silence, but he got the impression she had at least heard him when a weak pulse of warmth broke through the cloying layers of guilt and shame. _‘I’ll give you time, but I need you to work with me, so that what happened doesn’t happen again… I’m not mad at you, or scared.’_ He said gently. _‘And I’ll keep telling you that until you believe me. I’m not the only one that can be stubborn.’_ He warned. He was encouraged by the tiny burst of warmth that might have been humour stifled too late. _‘I felt that.’_ He teased.

There were no further responses or sensations, so he sank further into his nest and sighed.

 He closed his eyes and willed himself to fall asleep, he needed to get some rest in preparation for tomorrow. He was done being reckless, and clueless, he needed to start taking this seriously, to get stronger, and to prove to everyone and himself that he was enough.

Everyone had gone to great lengths to make sure Lance understood that and he didn’t want to let them down anymore then he already had so his first task after some rest was to seek out Sha’rah and learn what he could about expanding his “container” and hopefully learn more about Gaia.

 _I really want to see my friends._ He thought to himself as he finally, _finally,_ drifted off to sleep.

‘Lance!’

His eyes snapped open with a small gasp and he had to take a moment to orient himself since he’d gone from lying down to standing up in what seemed like a fraction of a tick, but when he finally gathered his wits he found himself blinking at a frantic Keith.

Keith, who was currently pressed right up against the bars of  his cell, had his hands wrapped so tightly around the bars his knuckles were turning white and his arms were shaking as if he were desperate to rip the bars apart to get to Lance.

Lance was far too relieved to see Keith to really question why he looked so desperate, he beamed with a relieved exhale and closed the distance between them. Keith’s shoulders loosened slightly when Lance approached but there was still a line of worry between his brows, and now that Lance was looking more closely, he could see that Keith looked terrible.

He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he had missed a few nights of sleep, the corner of his eyes were red and raw as if he had been vigorously rubbing at them, as if he’d been…

Lance paused, his smile dropping into a concerned frown, his eyes widened in alarm as he looked past Keith to check on the others, Hunk was curled up in the corner fast asleep, Shiro was resting against the wall, though his shoulders were tense and his hand was clenched tightly over his thigh.

He looked over his shoulder to check on the girls, Allura and Pidge were huddled together, while Krolia, who had somehow managed to remain upright, had her arms crossed over her stomach and her chin pressed against her chest where her head had dropped in her sleep.

Everyone looked exhausted but most importantly everyone looked unharmed.

‘Did something happen?’ Lance asked when he turned back to Keith. Keith took a moment to answer, his gaze was jumping all over as he took in Lance’s face and then down over him as if he were looking for something, before finally returning up to his face where his gaze lingered just to Lance’s left. His frown deepened and he finally met Lance’s eyes.

‘You tell me.’ Keith said.

Lance frowned, shaking his head lightly in mild confusion, Keith’s grip around the bars tightened and he dropped his forehead against the bars, his eyes staring into Lance’s with far too much meaning, as if trying to tell him something but Lance just wasn’t understanding. Keith must have understood his confusion because he dropped his gaze and sighed. ‘We know Lance.’ Was all he said, all sad and gentle like.

It may have taken him a moment to understand but when he finally did, he caught up real fast. Oh! Oh… crap, he hadn’t thought about that, given he couldn’t really feel his bond with the team or his lion due to Haggar’s Druids interference, he had sort of assumed that the block went both ways, it hadn’t even crossed his mind that they might feel his death.

‘I am so sorry,’ Lance whispered, he dropped his own gaze and took a shaky breath to steady himself, ‘I didn’t even think… did you feel it?’ He asked, looking up sharply.

‘No… not all of us, there’s something blocking us from our connection to the lions and to you.’ Keith explained. Ok, that’s good but then how did they know?

‘Galran Druids have the prison on full lock down,’ He offered, feeling a little distracted as he tried to fathom it out. ‘I can’t feel you or the lions either.’ He added.

‘Then how are you here?’

‘Divine intervention, I guess.’ Lance explained flippantly, frowning. ‘So, if you guys can’t feel me how did you know?’ He asked, leaning forward. Keith pulled back a little and looked over his shoulder to Shiro. Lance followed his gaze.

‘Shiro, he felt it… you somehow managed to get past the Druids magic and reconnect with Shiro, your divine intervention, I guess,’ Keith teased with a slight upward tilt to his mouth. ‘And because of it he’s been able to sense you.’ Lance paled, horror creeping over him as he sucked in a harsh breath.

‘Oh no, how much did he feel? Is he ok? Did I injure him in any way? I’m such an idiot –‘

‘Lance, stop, just stop, calm down.’ Keith slid down to his knees so that he was eye level with Lance, though Lance hadn’t noticed falling to his, Keith reached through the bars as if to touch Lance but hesitated over his shoulder, he made a pained sound before clenching his hand into a fist and pulling it back. ‘Shiro’s fine now.’ Keith continued. ‘He thinks he might have felt echoes of your pain before he felt nothing at all, and fuck, Lance, that was the worst part, at least if he can feel your pain, we know that you’re alive, but he felt nothing at all and we had no way of knowing…’ Keith cut off with a strangled sound, he dropped his head and his bangs covered his face so Lance couldn’t see him.

Lance was desperate to close the distance and pull Keith into a hug, but he couldn’t, because he wasn’t really here, so he stayed where he was and waited patiently, and painfully, for Keith to compose himself.

‘What happened?’ Keith asked quietly.

‘I messed up, I won’t bore you with all the details, but I did something dumb and reckless and it turns out there are consequences to sharing a body with a titan that I hadn’t bothered to learn about. I did what I set out to do, and apparently more, so it wasn’t a total failure, but I wasn’t ready and I paid the price for it.’

‘What happened, Lance?’ Keith asked again with more force in his words. Lance hesitated but Keith was giving him that look, the one that Lance could never ignore, he sagged with a heavy sigh and opened up.

‘I… was hasty and did a thing I wasn’t fully prepared for and because of it, some things happened and Gaia had to help, except she helped too much and my body wasn’t prepared for her kind of help, and I kind of… short-circuited?’

Keith was squinting at him. ‘Why is that a question? And how is it that you can explain something without explaining anything at all?’ Lance groaned and Keith threw his hands up in frustration. ‘We’re blind in here Lance, and your vague explanations only making me feel more anxious, so stop dancing around the truth and tell me.’

‘I died.’

Keith sucked in a breath, his arms dropping to his side, limp with shock, he stared at Lance in horror.

‘You just had too…’ Lance sighed, disgruntled, and ran a hand over his face, he formed a fist and let it fall to his side. ‘I was trying to be delicate, but the truth is this, I made a mistake and Gaia tried to help, except we’re both still learning to exist together and as it turns out Humans don’t naturally come with large pools of power so when Gaia pumped me full of hers it overloaded my body and my heart couldn’t handle the strain.’

He ran a hand through his hair, and Keith’s eyes flickered to his white patch of hair, it was brief, but it had Lance feeling oddly exposed, he fiddled with it and turned his face slightly away.

‘So, yeah, I did die briefly, but I was saved, and I’ve learnt from my mistakes; it won’t happen again.’

‘How can you be so complacent about this?’ Keith said, shaking his head lightly in disbelief. ‘You fucking d…’ He inhaled shakily. ‘Died.’ He finished with a whisper, he dropped his gaze to the floor, his eyes looking suspiciously wet. Lance grit his teeth and clenched his hands so tightly, that he could feel his nails digging into his palms.

He had no idea what to do with this Keith; anger he could brush off, indifference he could roll with, exasperation he could laugh off. But he didn’t know what to do with a Keith who looked heartbroken.  

‘I hate this, Lance.’ Keith said after a moment of tense silence, his voice was just above a whisper and he was still looking at the ground. ‘I hate that we don’t know what’s happening with you. I hate that we don’t know whether you’re alive or dead. I hate that you have do this alone and that we can’t be there for you, to support you, and I hate this empty feeling in my head where you should be but you’re not.’   

Lance opened his mouth and then closed it again, repeating that several more times before just sealing his mouth shut and inhaling deeply through his nose.

His heart was racing and his mind was in a tailspin, and he was sure if he were here in person he’d be sweating profusely because Keith had no good reason to be looking at him like that; like his world would end if Lance were to disappear from his life completely.

He had to be reading into that look too deeply, this had to be just a friendly concern, Keith would be aiming that soft devastated look at any of the others if they’d been in his position. There was just no way that Keith would… not about him… really it just seemed silly to even entertain the idea.

He brushed away the confusing disappointment and plastered on his best reassuring smile.

‘I’ll get stronger.’ Lance promised. ‘And I’ll be more careful, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore. Ok? Just know that I am coming, I will get you out, I promise.’

Keith gave him a long piercing stare, and Lance felt like he might have been missing something, but Keith just sighed, his face slipping into a fond smile.

And Keith had no right giving him all these soft looks and smiles, it was no good for Lance’s poor heart (too soon?) because they really made a man hope; and in Lance’s experience some forms of hope could be dangerous.

‘I know you will, I didn’t doubt that for a second.’ Keith said, still smiling fondly.

Lance wanted to look away, but he also wanted to look at him for the rest of eternity, so he was at a bit of an impasse with himself. But Lance knew he had weaknesses, and one of them just so happened to be Keith’s face so he continued to stare dumbly at Keith, eating up that look and storing the memory of it away in his mental box of precious things.

‘And don’t ask me not to worry about you Lance, from what I understand it’s considered quite natural to worry about the people you care about most.’

Aw crap, there it went. Well, his heart had had a good run, it had resisted for as long as it could, but Keith was just too… Keith. Lance couldn’t even blame it for crumbling under the pressure since Lance’s brain was having the same problem.

Lance’s budding feelings for Keith had been one of the things that he had boxed away a long _long_ time ago, trouble was he’d kept filling the box over time and it seemed that the box had reached its breaking point.

He felt oddly resigned as his years old feelings washed over him and he finally allowed himself to just accept it already.

Great. So, he was in love with Keith, but what the heck was he supposed to do about that now? Tell him? He looked at Keith who was watching him patiently, as if he knew that Lance was having grand moment of revelation and was waiting for him to come to terms with it. No. That was too steep a hill for him to climb and it was hardly the right moment.

He would have to keep this close to his chest for now because there was no way he was going to be able to wrestle all this back into its box until a more appropriate time.

‘You know,’ Lance started hesitantly, ‘I miss having you guys in my head too, and I never thought I’d hear myself say that but it’s true.’ They shared a quiet laugh. ‘Keith.’ He said in a more serious tone, he took a step forwards, reaching up as he went to place his hand over one of Keith’s that was still gripping the bar. He stopped before they made contact and just let his hand hover over Keith’s, and imagined that he could feel Keith’s hand under his.

Keith watched Lance’s hand, his own twitching as if he wanted to close the distance so that they would be touching, Lance could feel Keith disappointment keenly and smiled wryly.

And Lance could only say what he was about to say because he was beginning to recognise that tugging sensation in his gut whenever he woke up. So with all the seriousness he could muster he told Keith the truth.

‘I’m the one that ate the last mock chocolate dessert Hunk said he had saved for you.’ Lance had enough time to see Keith freeze in confusion before his expression warped into rage.

‘I knew it was you!’ He screeched in outrage. ‘No. shit! Get back here Lance!’

But Lance just laughed as he was yanked back to his body.

He found himself laughing when he woke up, giggling manically into Kosmo’s fur like a lunatic but he couldn’t help it, he hadn’t felt this light-hearted in ages. Teasing Keith did always make him feel better.

But he also felt buoyant with his newly acknowledged feelings and even though it might lead to heart break in the future, he couldn’t find it in himself to resent them.

Not when they made him feel like this.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new resolve and a Familiar face.

There was still a lot that Lance needed to work through but for the moment he was in high spirits. The morning after his visit with Keith, he practically skipped into the main room and whistled a cheerful tune as he served himself some breakfast. He didn’t miss the way Krillan and Kira had shared a look of confusion, he just beamed at them and continued to eat his breakfast.

And Lance had decided not to waste this boost in his motivation, by throwing himself into training. He started by approaching Ma Rhea’za, and after apologising profusely for his recklessness, she agreed to train him further.

Ma Rhea’za was good at masking her emotions but Lance sort of picked up that she was still somewhat annoyed when instead of teaching him something new, she made him meditate for several hours.

He daren’t reach out for Shiro again, not so soon after… it didn’t feel right to just reach out as if nothing had happened, so he forced himself to sit still and try.

He needed to prove to Ma rhea’za that he was taking this seriously. Even if he couldn’t get his brain to shut up; though he kind of suspected that Ma Rhea’za was counting on that. She had probably wanted him to reflect on his actions and their consequences.

Well consider his actions reflected upon. He forced his mind to go over all the details, to analyse all his mistakes over and over, he thought about how it felt to let Gaia take over his body and he thought about what came after. About how hard it had been to draw in breath and regain control of his body as if it hadn’t belonged to him in the first place, how hard it had been to think of it as his, how scary it had been.

And then the burning.

He didn’t think the burning was all down to his heart imploding in on itself, it was too much like when he’d first woken up after Gaia and he had bonded. He’d been channelling her pain, he was sure of it, it had felt as if he were being ripped apart, much like the Galra were doing to Gaia.

_‘How can you handle all that pain?’_ Lance asks inside his own head, not really expecting an answer.

_Being with you…_ Lance startled in surprise, almost falling out of his meditative posture, he held back a million questions because he didn’t want to scare her away again. _…has helped. Your aura is special Lance, it heals._

He’s not to sure what to say to that, he’s just too relieved to finally hear Gaia again.

_‘Does this mean I’m forgiven?’_

_I am the one requires your forgiveness. I promised that I would keep you safe and I failed you._

_‘No! I’m the one that was unprepared, I should’ve learnt more, I should have asked more…’_ Lance took a deep breath. Like this they weren’t going to get anywhere. _‘Look, how about we both take equal share of the blame and from here on out we learn together so that something like this doesn’t happen again because believe me, despite my actions so far, I really don’t have a death wish.’_

_I would like that._

Lance couldn’t stop the spread of his smile even if he’d tried.

A gentle hand on his shoulder prompted Lance to open his eyes, and he found Ma Rhea’za smiling down at him.

‘I sense you are no longer troubled; I assume that you have made amends with Gaia.’ Lance’s eyes widened as he realised, he may have misunderstood the intention of this meditation. ‘I was heartened by your eagerness to train, but your aura and Gaia’s were in discord, guilt and blame throwing you both out of alignment, and any attempt to perform our rituals could have fractured your bond further, harmony is important to the success of our rituals.’ She smiled warmly.

‘And I feel that that harmony has been reached again.’

Lance looked into himself and Gaia brushed against his consciousness eagerly, reassuring him and he smiled. He met Ma Rhea’za’s gaze, his smile widening and as it did Lance noticed a gentle glow in the air around him.

He looked down at him self and found that it was coming from him. It wasn’t the first time, but he still held his hands up and marvelled at the luminance that seemed to originate from under his skin.

Lance needed to start being more honest with himself if it meant feeling this at peace, and it seemed that finally accepting his feelings for Keith instead of being scared of them could be just the push he needed to start unpacking some of those boxes.

‘Now you are ready to begin your training in earnest.’

‘Yeah!’ Lance crowed, jumping up to his feet. He was finally beginning to feel excited rather than anxious and he was eager to see what he and Gaia could do together.

 

Ma Rhea’za led them to the pools.

And she was remaining annoyingly tight lipped about it but as they walked together Lance got a glimpse of just how much respect she commanded amongst the other druids. They all stopped to bow as she passed by, Ma Rhea’za tilting her head in return in polite acknowledgement.

It made sense, she was their Chieftain, their leader, but Lance forgot that sometimes. It was easy to do when she looked upon him as an equal sometimes, and he supposed, considering he was currently bonded to their titan planet, he was an equal.

But sometimes she looked over him with an almost maternal air which helped when it came to putting him at ease, in fact it was thanks to all of these guys that Lance wasn’t drowning under the pressure of being their grand saviour.

The pools looked as they ever did, calm and still, lighting up the cavern with the waters natural glow. It was hard to believe that just yesterday Lance had been here, dying, that with Krillan and Ma Rhea’za’s combined efforts he’d been saved.

He couldn’t put their efforts to waste, so with that resolve in mind he followed Ma Rhea’za in and prepared himself.

‘The Druids are the heart of Gaia,’ Ma Rhea’za’s voice was loud in the silent cavern. ‘We are the ones that can commune with her and our strongest gift is that of healing.’ She turned to Lance. ‘I’ve brought you here because this is where you and Gaia first formed your connection. I watched that day, as you almost gave everything to save your companion, but I also saw the way your aura swelled when the water responded to your plea.’

Lance looked over the still water in thought, it had felt like such a long time ago since then, since he’d stumbled into the water with Kosmo. Since the first time Gaia had communicated with him with waves of encouraging warmth. Since the water had responded to his plea and healed Kosmo and his broken nose.

But then again, a lot of his time thus far had been broken up by falling unconscious and waking up in random dreamscapes. He actually had no idea how long he’d been here, but he knew he couldn’t waste anymore time.

‘The sea.’ Lance said, Ma Rhea’za raised a brow and waited for him to continue. ‘My family lived by the sea, and my mama used to have such a hard time dragging us away once we were in the water,’ He snorted, ‘when she wasn’t in it with us of course.’ He smirked up at Ma Rhea’za and she smiled down in return. ‘We loved to swim.’ His smile turned down to something wistful. ‘I was just teaching me nephew and niece how to swim when I got accepted to the Garrison.’

Lance closed his eyes and brought up the memories he treasured. The sand between his toes, the rush and crash of the ocean hitting the seashore, the call of gulls soaring overhead blending in with the shrieks and laughter of his family splashing through the water. The sounds he hoped to never forget echoed in his mind and for once he let himself feel the bittersweet feelings and embraced the ache in his heart.

He sighed and opened his eyes, only to gasp and stumble back.

Floating in front of him was a ball of water. Confused he looked from it to Ma Rhea’za, she smiled encouragingly and nodded her head towards the orb. Slowly he returned his gaze back to the ball and it flowed through the air under his recaptured attention in smooth arching motions, its form changing as it moved.

It looked excited; or as excited as a shapeless ball of water could look.  

It moved towards him, little blobs of water were breaking off and reattaching seamlessly. And then it tapped him on the nose lightly, and he got a sense of playfulness that pulled a smile from Lance. The orb rippled out from the point of contact and then it was leaping up into the air over his head and began twirling and twisting.

Lance took a single stumbled step back so that he could look up and watch the water move, he laughed in amazement as it split into two streams and circled around him to cross over each other before converging again.

Halfway through the display a light began to grow from the centre of the orb, brighter and brighter, as the light grew the movements of the water mass grew more frenzied. It exploded in light and Lance had to shield his eyes but immediately dropped his arm to look up again, not wanting to miss a thing.

It floated still in the air, the light at the centre of its form was steadily pulsing out in gentle waves and it took a few moments of staring for Lance to realise that it was pulsing in time to his heartbeat. He lifted a hand to his chest and felt the beat of his heart under his palm while he watched the water over head.

And then its form shifted into something narrow and pointed, and it shot over his head, arching down and straight towards Lance’s back. It happened so fast that Lance had barely taken a step to turn when the water impaled through his back and he gasped.

Lance shuddered, disconcerted by the shifting feeling under his skin and the bone deep chill, he glanced at Ma Rhea’za and was at least a little comforted by the fact she didn’t look worried. Slowly the chill began to fade to be replaced with a comfortable warmth, which felt kind of like stepping into a warm bath or sun warmed water.

The warmth seeped away from his fingers and toes first, leaving behind a coolness that washed over him as the warmth in his chest grew more concentrated. It wasn’t painful, thankfully, but it was getting to the point of uncomfortably full where he was beginning to worry about how hard it was to take a full breath.

He didn’t have to worry for long though because from the centre of his chest, the pool water leapt out gracefully and soundlessly to land on the floor on four paws, it shuddered once before shaking its head and twisting its body around to peer up at Lance with glowing blue eyes.

The pressure on his lungs lifted immediately and he sucked in a choked gasp, eyes glued to the mass of water that was now shaped like a big feline.

…What?

It was water still, though its new form no longer undulated or shifted, it was clear like water and with every shift of its head or flick of its ear the water inside rippled. A glow rested in the centre of its chest that pulsed gently, still in time with Lance’s heart.

Lance stared at it incomprehensively and it stared back patiently. It blinked slowly at him, and Lance found himself mimicking the gesture and apparently it was all the creature needed before closing the distance between them, and like a cat, it brushed itself up against Lance’s front.

‘It is as I thought.’ Lance turned his head towards Ma Rhea’za, his eyes lingering on the creature a tick longer before turning his befuddled stare on Ma Rhea’za.

‘What just happened?’

‘The water of these pools has imprinted on you.’ She explained and Lance frowned, wondering if he should know what that meant. In the end he shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

‘Yeah, I don’t know what that means. I thought the water was a part of Gaia, doesn’t she control it.’

‘The water is a part of Gaia, as are we, but we maintain our own agencies, as do all things on Gaia. Her role is not to control us, but to simply offer us guidance.

‘This pool is a means that allow us to communicate most efficiently with Gaia and the water here is the most amiable sort and has graciously allowed Gaia to channel her magic through it therefore It is only natural, given with time, the potency of Gaia’s aura and our share of rituals, that the water would develop a sentiency.’

‘You mean it’s alive?’ Lance asked with shocked amazement.

‘Very much alive, yes.’

‘And it… imprinted on me?’ Lance prompted. ‘What does that mean exactly?’

‘It found a kinship with your aura and has decided to become your Familiar.’

‘Familiar?’ Lance wondered if he was being bothersome with all his cluelessness but when he looked over at Ma Rhea’za, she simply smiled patiently when she caught his eye. She gestured to the rocks by the pool and he followed her to take a seat.

The water cat – his familiar – immediately leapt over and splashed into the water, the lower half of its body disappeared into the water, indistinguishable from the pool it sat in, but the parts that sat above the surface maintained its feline shape.

Impulsively, Lance kicked off his borrowed moccasins, swung his legs over the rock and dunked his feet in the water. His familiar’s head turned to him the moment the ripple caused by his action met its back, it jumped out of the water to run across the surface until it was at Lance’s legs, it brushed up against his knee, its back arching as it rubbed itself aggressively against him.

He chuckled and reached down to tentatively touch the back of its head. Its ear twitched at the slight touch before it turned its face to rub it firmly against Lance’s fingers. Emboldened, his touch grew firmer, and he was surprised by how warm it felt, and that even though it was made up of water it didn’t leave his hand or clothes wet.

It was so weird and kind of amazing. 

‘A familiar,’ Ma Rhea’za began to explain, speaking with softened tones, ‘is a druid’s spiritual companion, it is common for budding druids to summon their familiar before they begin their training, as the role of the familiar is to protect their masters aura. As you have learnt it is very easy to give too much, so Gaia gifted us with companions that safeguard our auras.’

‘Do you have a familiar?’ Lance asked.

‘Yes, but he remains on the surface for me, acting as my eyes.’

‘Was he born from the water too?’

‘No, the water here has been kind to us, but it has never shown any interest in becoming anyone’s familiar. My familiar was born from a tree I once tried to save during my training, I was inexperienced then and failed, I had hoped that feeding it a portion of my aura would give it life again, and I suppose in a way it did, the tree had reached its end but the remains clung to my aura and from it, a creature was born from its bark. It has served me faithfully since, as will yours.’

She smiled down at the familiar. ‘I had suspected that the water was interested in you when I first saw you in this pool, it had responded so readily to you, and though you offered everything, it took very little in exchange.

‘My suspicions only grew stronger during the times we had to heal you, the water is kind but it can also be capricious and often mischievous, a lot of persuasion is usually involved in our ritual, but it had responded so swiftly to our intentions and was already working over you before we could even finish the exchange.’

She smiled at Lance again. ‘Your aura is warm and bright; it draws others in easily and puts them at ease and there is a healing quality in those traits that the water has recognised.’

Lance stared down at the feline with a furrowed brow, he’d been too in awe before but as Ma Rhea’za had been talking, a sense of niggling familiarity was beginning to bother Lance. The feline’s eyes opened to stare right back at him, her glowing blue eyes catching his and holding, patiently and encouraging, her radiating glow pulsing gently, warm and comforting.

He knew this feeling. He’d felt it before.

‘Why… why did it take this form?’ Lance asked, hesitantly, the back of his throat felt tight and his eyes stung.

‘They are a reflection of your aura they chose their form based on your greatest bonds.’

Lance laughed, but it wasn’t a happy kind of laugh, it was wet and choked and he rubbed his eyes as the first few tears escaped. ‘You are not happy.’ Ma Rhea’za observed with a cautious tilt of her head.

‘It’s not… this is amazing and I’m grateful that it chose me, but…’ Lance took a deep breath to calm himself down. ‘I was the Blue Paladin of Voltron before I was the red one, Me and Blue, we had the strongest bond since we were the first to find each other. And then, one day she just shut me out, no warning, no goodbyes, just… nothing. But I understood, times were changing, and we had to change with them so when the Red lion roared for me, I went.’

He sighed heavily and dropped his head into his hands to rub his eyes roughly with the heels of his hands

‘My bond with Red isn’t that strong though, there’s something between us that I can’t get over and I think it’s my bond with Blue. I’m still clinging pathetically to my old bond like some clingy ex and this,’ He gestured to the water feline, ‘is proof of that, Blue isn’t mine anymore and I’m having a hard time accepting that. Obviously.’ He said in frustration.

_Lance._ Gaia’s voice was gentle in his mind. _I think you might be mistaken._

_‘What do you mean?’_ He asked tiredly.

_I have had some time to observe your aura and I’ve examined the bonds that you have formed in your time - without delving too deeply in order to respect your privacy. You are someone that forms strong bonds easily, the bonds you have to each of the other paladins are so strongly woven together I do not believe there is a force in the universe that could tear them apart. There are so many bonds here that I can see that you care deeply and love easily, I can also see that the sentiments are readily returned._

_I have also seen the bond you carry with each of your lions. So have you considered this; it is not you who is clinging desperately to an old bond?_

_‘Huh?’_

_You are trying to form a connection to the red lion and she in turn is trying too, the tether between you is tentative and fraught with uncertainty, and yet you keep reaching for each other repeatedly. I do not believe you are holding yourself back at all, you are trying to move forwards Lance, because that is what you do, it’s a core part of who you are, your ability to adapt, to evolve, to flow._

_The Blue lion is the one that couldn’t let you go._

Huh… it hadn’t even crossed his mind that Blue might be the one having a hard time letting go. It had seemed like she had shut him out so easily, so then why was she still holding onto him?

_Because she cares for you deeply, she must also adapt and she knew that your calling was with another, but that doesn’t erase the connection you had formed during your time together. She wants to keep protecting you and the strength of her feelings seems to outweigh her reason and is unaware of the turmoil she is creating in your aura._

_Rhea’za has already explained the role of a familiar to you, its sole purpose us to protect your aura. The pull of the two lions whose auras are far more powerful then yours, was considered a danger to your aura and when the familiar passed through you it considered the fragment left behind by the Blue lion the greatest source of your distress. But it understood her intentions as innocent, her desire to protect you aligned with your familiar’s and a compromise was reached, it absorbed the Blue lion’s essence._

Lance’s eyes widened as he looked down at the familiar, she was looking at him with that familiar intelligent gaze, just like the first time she had set eyes on him in that cave back on Earth. He reached down with both hands and cupped his familiar’s face. His familiar that was infused with Blue’s remaining connection to him.

‘Blue?’ Her eyes closed and she tilted her face into his hand, her ears flicking towards him in acknowledgement.

_‘Does this mean I’m no longer bonded to Blue?’_

_It means she has found another way to protect you without compromising your aura, or feelings. She wants you to become stronger, even if it means letting you go for good. But that it does not mean she won’t be there for you if you ever need her._

Oh hells, he was getting emotional again. He dropped into the water and threw his arms around Blue, she curled into his embrace, the warm light pulsed brighter, happier.

‘Before we continued your training,’ Ma Rhea’za said, coming into the water behind Lance and kneeling at his side, she placed a big and gentle hand on his back. He sniffed quietly and looked up at her from over Blue’s head. ‘I wanted to give you some assurance that what happened before will not happen again. She will keep you safe so do not fear and give it your all.’

Lance shot her a watery smile and a hearty thumbs up, scared that if he talked, he’d just be a blubbering mess. She gave it a strange look but judging by the fond look she offered in return, she read it as positive affirmation. ‘Come then, Sha’rah has been eager to begin your training.’    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :) x


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tenuous truce? And the start...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took a little longer to get out I had a hard time getting the words out my head, but I got there in the end.   
> And as always I appreciate every comment and every Kudos I receive for this story, it warms me to know that people actually like the things I write, I hope you guys continue to enjoy this and any other fics I may present in the future :)   
> And yay, I made it to chapter 20, going to be honest I have no idea how long this fic is going to be since I have poor planning skills and I'm writing this as I go but I WILL make it to the end, however many chapters that will take. So please stick with me :) xx

Their trip to Sha’rah’s den was interrupted when Li’ranna appeared before them, she was decked out in her full armour and looked just as intimidating as the first time he’d met her. She bowed her head respectfully to Ma Rhea’za before scowling down at Lance.

He shrunk back a little under the weight of her glare before quickly reminding himself that he had to earn her respect by showing her no fear. He straightened his shoulders and met her glare with a steady gaze. She wouldn’t know how profusely he was sweating under his clothes, or how his muscles trembled slightly with anxiety.

‘Li’ranna.’ Ma Rhea’za greeted neutrally. ‘May I help you?’

Li’ranna held his gaze for a beat longer before turning a more neutral gaze back to Ma Rhea’za, Lance blew out a quiet breath and hoped his slight half-step to put himself further behind Ma Rhea’za went unnoticed.

Judging by the twitch in Li’ranna’s eyes, she had noticed.

‘I wish to begin his combat training. If I am to accept him as our Champion, he needs to be…’ Her eyes slid back to Lance. ‘…stronger.’

‘Sha’rah has requested his time.’ Ma Rhea’za said, her tone passive. Lance looked between them and suddenly felt quite awkward. The air around them was tense and Lance had to wonder if it had anything to do with him. He didn’t want to cause a rift between allies. He swallowed down his nerves and prepared a smile.

‘It’s alright Ma Rhea’za, if Sha’rah is ok with rescheduling our lesson, I think Li’ranna is right. I have been neglecting my training and if Keith or Allura ever found out they’d probably have me running laps around the castle for days.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Besides, training my body is another way I can make myself stronger for Gaia.’ He pressed a hand to his chest, over his heart, and frowned down at the ground. ‘We’re all talking about how my aura’s pool was too small but in the end it was my body that couldn’t handle the strain, I need to work on both and I think today we’ve already done something to ease the strain on my aura.’

As he said this, Blue pressed against the back of his legs and curled around him to sit on his feet, he smiled down and ran a hand over her head, she pressed up into it and a dim glow rippled through her from the point of contact.

Blue had finally let go of her hold on him and it had released some tension in his chest he hadn’t even realised he’d been holding. He’d miss their connection, there was no doubt about that, but it was nice to know she wasn’t completely gone, and it was nice to know that it hadn’t been as easy for her to shut him out as he had originally thought, that he hadn’t been the only one to struggle with the separation.

It was bittersweet.

But it was better this way, he still had a part of Blue by his side and it meant there was nothing stopping him from forming a solid bond with Red. Once he found her of course, and to do that he needed to get stronger.

He looked up at Ma Rhea’za and smiled reassuringly. ‘Blue will keep my aura safe.’ She sighed heavily and her gaze softened.

‘It is not your aura I am concerned for; I believe you have fully learned your lesson in the most grave way possible.’ She then looked up at Li’ranna. ‘Very well, I shall inform Sha’rah of the change in plan, but I do hope that your personal feelings on Gaia’s choice does not impact on your training method, Li’ranna.’ The tone in Ma Rhea’za’s voice sent a shiver running down Lance’s spine, a warning to the aggressive tension between the two Orgs.

Li’ranna’s cool blue eyes gave nothing away, she smiled tightly and bowed her head tersely, a mockery of the first one which had been done in respect.

‘Of course.’ She said smoothly and Ma Rhea’za held her gaze a moment longer before addressing Lance.

‘Send your familiar to find me when you are done Lance, there is something I had wished to discuss with you before the end of this suns cycle.’ He offered a quick nod. ‘Good luck.’ She said before taking her leave.

Lance watched her go before finally turning back to Li’ranna with a sigh, he startled to find her already watching him and he abruptly realised that it was now just them. Alone.

Oh man, he had made a horrible mistake. The tension was so thick between them it was a miracle he could even draw breath, though the shortness of breath may have something to do with the anxiety that was already building. His heart was racing heavily, and his hands were growing clammy because she wasn’t saying anything and was still staring at him with an unreadable expression.

He glanced away, and then looked back, gearing himself to say something to end this silent standoff between them but the decision was taken away from him when Li’ranna turned away and from over her shoulder all she offered was a harsh, ‘Come.’

Lance stumbled slightly in his haste to follow and had to jog to catch up to her. Her gait was sure and each of her long strides had to be matched by two of his hurried ones. She didn’t slow to accommodate him, so Lance had to keep up at a steady jog or get left behind.

When they did finally come to a stop it was at the opening of another den. Li’ranna paused at the entrance, not bothering to look at Lance as he tried to make it look as if he wasn’t trying to catch his breath.                 

Lance straightened when he looked up and found Li’ranna looking at him from the corner of her eye, she glanced away when their eyes met, a frustrated grimace pulled at her lips and her hands formed into white knuckled fists.

‘This is stupid.’ She muttered under her breath and Lance bristled but before he could say anything, she turned to him and if reluctance had a face, it would be this one. Her brow twitched and a muscle ticked in her jaw, her upper lip pulled up on one side expressing her distaste. ‘You are weak.’ She spat and Lance looked away to hide his hurt. ‘But, many of my sisters were among the unsent that you released.’

Lance looked up again, surprised by the tiny display of vulnerability he could hear in her voice. She stood as tall and as proud as every time he had seen her but her eyes, which were focused over his head, had gone soft. Until she noticed him watching, then the flinty look was back and she turned her back to him.

‘You are weak,’ She said again, driving the nail further in. ‘But I will make you stronger.’ And then she strode into the room, leaving Lance to process her meaning.

He stared after her dumbly, his mouth having dropped open a little, this felt like it might have a been a peace offering.

A thank you veiled under the promise to help him become stronger.

Blue nudged the back of his legs and he looked down at her with a look that said _‘did you see that?’_. She blinked at him slowly and Lance decided to read that as look successfully interpreted and he wasn’t losing his mind.   

It was probably the best he was going to get for right now, so he shook off his surprise and ran into the room after Li’ranna.

The room was well lit and all along the smoothed wall to the right of the room were weapon racks well stocked with a variety of dangerous looking weapons. They glistened in the torch light and Lance wondered if this was Li’ranna’s personal collection since each weapon had a certain pristine gleam that matched her armour.

As Lance walked further in, he paused and looked down at the ground, he moved his foot around a bit before tapping it with the heel of his foot, the soil was softer in here.

‘Ma Rhea’za’s touch.’ Li’ranna said, as if reading his thoughts. ‘I had the room made specifically to train you in but Ma Rhea’za saw fit to remind me on several occasions that you humans seem to bruise easily, I say that our young learn from their bruises and build on their mistakes, why not you.’ She said with a shrug.

Lance looked down at the loosely packed soil and silently thanked Ma Rhea’za for the foresight, though he suspected it hadn’t endeared him to Li’ranna anymore. He bit his lip, maybe he should say something, they couldn’t work like this if she constantly looked at him like a bug that needed squashing.

‘Some bruises aren’t always obvious.’ He muttered just loud enough for Li’ranna to hear; she glanced his way with a curious frown. ‘Call it extreme, but I died, I would consider that one quiznacking big bruise, and one I’m going to learn from.’ He said louder. She at least had the grace to look a little chagrined. Lance sighed, relaxing his posture to seem less confrontational while also remaining assured.

‘Look, I know you don’t like me, I’m not what you envisioned for a champion, you think I’m weak and inferior and right now, you’re not wrong, but I can learn.’ He looked down at the ground again, at the scuff marks his feet had made in the soil and thought about how Ma Rhea’za, when creating this room, had thought about how to make things easier for Lance. ‘With everyone’s help I can be shaped into the champion your people need because I want to save Gaia, I want to save your people, I want to save my friends and I want to save you. And I know,’ he stressed, ‘you don’t need me to save you, but that won’t stop me from wanting to.’ Lance smiled ruefully. ‘You guys don’t need a hero; you just need a bit of hope.’ Lance continued, because he was on a roll and his confidence wasn’t going to last much longer, he just really needed to get this off his chest.

‘Gaia’s done watching from the side lines as you all fight and die to keep her safe, she wants to stand with you but you need to learn to be able to stand with me because I’m not going anywhere and I need you to help me. Take it from me, I know how it is to feel helpless and like you’re never enough, it felt a lot a better to pin that on someone else, to blame them for your own self perceived short-comings, but because of that I almost missed out on knowing someone truly amazing.’

Lance was big enough to admit that his one-sided rivalry with Keith had been a sham, a smokescreen to mask a bruised ego, an inferiority complex that was ocean deep and the fluttering feeling in the pit of gut whenever he looked at Keith for too long. Keith had never done a thing wrong but because of Lance’s mental hang ups he’d created a rivalry out of nothing.

Keith had been forced to reciprocate in kind because what else do you do when someone you barely know attacks you with barbs and vicious words and Keith was never the sort to back down from a fight, no matter how confused he was by it.

Fortunately, he’d managed pull his head out his arse when Keith had needed a shoulder to lean on and things between them had changed for the better, and even though Lance had been forced to confront some tough truths about himself, and the feelings he’d been squashing down, he discovered he quiet liked who he was when Keith looked at him in _that_ way.

‘I’m not saying we have to become best friends or anything, but I’ll accept an ally who has mutual goals.’

Li’ranna’s face was entirely unreadable, she was staring at him from across the room and Lance felt sweat building in the back of his neck, but her attention was stolen by something behind him, her eyes snapped up and her expression shifted to something furious, her entire demeanour went from reserved indifference to vibrating with tension. Though the shaking might have been from the effort to hold herself back.

Alarmed, Lance spun around to face whoever had Li’ranna so on edge and stilled when he instead found Ishani, one of the Drai from the meeting. Lance relaxed his stance and offered a hesitant smile, which Ishani returned more confidently, completely unfazed by the aggressive presence at Lance’s back.

‘You have a way with words, Champion.’ She said softly, Lance laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

‘Just saying what felt right.’ He mumbled. ‘And call me Lance, please.’ He added, just resisting the urge to dart a nervous glance back at Li’ranna.

‘I apologise for intruding but Ma Rhea’za informed me that you would be here, and I was… curious.’ Her gaze slid past Lance to Li’ranna and she smiled pleasantly. ‘With your mentor’s permission, of course, I would like to sit in.’ Lance half turned so that he could keep them both in sight, he watched Li’ranna apprehensively.

She looked ready to kill someone and Lance couldn’t understand how Ishani could appear so calm given the face Li’ranna was directing at her. He wondered if he should say something, but he was pretty sure he could only make it worse considering her own personal feelings towards Lance. She probably felt cornered, faced with an outsider acting as a champion for her people and someone who had once been her enemy.

The best thing to do here would be to send Ishani away and invite her again once Li’ranna felt more comfortable, or at least more at ease though given their history he wasn’t sure that time would ever come. He turned to Ishani to apologise when Li’ranna beat him to the punch.

‘Fine.’ Lance almost got whiplash from how fast he turned to face Li’ranna, she was still tense but she had straightened from her threatening posture to something more informal thought still incredibly standoffish. ‘But do not get in my way.’ She growled.

Ishani smiled patiently and bowed her head slightly.

‘Of course.’ She entered the room and went to stand by the wall opposite the weapon racks, she slid her shield off her back and placed it against the wall and leant back to watch. Li’ranna watched her with narrowed eyes until Ishani settled before slowly looking away, as if cautious to turn her back to a potential threat. She stomped towards the weapons, and grabbed a long wooden stick.

She tossed it towards him without warning and Lance fumbled with it before clutching it to his chest. He held it out in front of him to take a closer look. It resembled a Shinai in style, but the wood slats used were made of a sturdier type of wood then bamboo, it was far less flexible, and though it was probably enough to lessen the impact for an Org in training, this was probably going to hurt for Lance.

Lance looked up in time to see Li’ranna removing her armour, taking each one off methodically and placing each down with care, and as it turned out, Li’ranna was no less intimidating without her armour.

Left in a plain leather vest that ended just above her mid-drift and fitted leather pants that did nothing to hide the impressive display of muscle, she grabbed her own training stick and turned to face Lance.

He gulped. He wasn’t sure if he was more intimidated by the armour or the flex of muscles every time she moved. Either way he was in for a world of pain.

She twirled the stick in her hand before grasping it tightly and bringing it up in front her as she dropped into an offensive stance, her gaze was level and Lance was struck with how out of his depth he was.

‘Show me what you can do.’ Li’ranna said, and there was nothing friendly about that grin.

Lance took a moment to mentally psych himself up and then grasped the stick between his two hands, holding it out like a sword – and man was this thing heavy – and after a deep breath, he charged towards Li’ranna.

***

 The heavy clank of an iron door being unlocked outside the prison had Keith jumping out of his quick nap and to his feet in a matter of seconds, instinctively he reached for his dagger only to come up short, suddenly remembering where he was. He dropped his hand and clenched it into a fist.

The others were slower to get to their feet.

‘Who do you think it could be because it’s not feeding time yet.’ Hunk asked nervously, wringing his hands.

‘How do you even know that?’ Pidge asked. Hunk patted his belly.

‘My stomach has been conditioned to grumble whenever they bring us food, it’s how I’ve been keeping track of the days actually.’

Keith hushed them all just as their prison door was swung open and a Galra droid stepped in, it took a step to the side and a female Org entered.

Immediately Keith could tell she was vastly different then the ones that bought them food, she was taller for a start and the way she held herself was almost regal. Her hair was braided in elaborate patterns across her scalp where they eventually trailed down her back in long twisting dreadlocks, each strand decorated with wooden beads and strips of dyed leather bands.

Her clothes were plain like the others, but it didn’t detract from her strong presence at all. And just like the others they’d seen before her, she wore a collar that pulsed with deep purple energy.

She turned to the droid, her expression smooth. ‘Leave us.’ She ordered. The droid hesitated. ‘The ritual must be completed in privacy.’ She explained. Clearly dissatisfied, the droid listened and left, closing the door behind it.

The moment they all heard the grind of the lock sealing them all in, the Org dropped her carefully blank face and sneered at the closed door. She turned back to the room and took a deep breath before scanning the room until they landed on the Princess. Allura straightened, cautious, until the Org crossed the space between their two cells and bowed before Allura.

Allura’s eyes widened in surprise and she threw everyone a bewildered look, before returning her wary gaze to the bowing Org.

‘Princess Allura, and Paladins of Voltron, on behalf of my people and my planet, I wish to apologise for the way that you have been treated.’ Visibly startled, the Princess floundered for what to say before she finally sighed.

‘I have learnt not to hold an entire race accountable for the actions of one, so please, rise.’ Allura offered delicately. The Org rose.

‘You are kind Princess, much like your father had been.’

‘You knew my father?’ Allura asked, her voice pitched in surprised. The Org tilted her head.

‘You do not remember your time here Princess?’ Allura blushed faintly.

‘Oh, I was a child when we visited so my memory is a little foggy.’ She admitted.

‘Well, it has been over ten thousand decapheobs since then.’ The Org conceded. ‘Allow me to reintroduce myself to you then, I am Loh’ghan, the daughter of the Great Chieftain, I was an Orgling when you visited with your father.’

‘Oh!’ Allura exclaimed. ‘I do remember there being an Orgling whom I’d spent time with.’ She dropped her gaze. ‘A lot has happened since then so I apologise for forgetting you.’

‘I hold no ill will towards you Princess, I heard of what happened to your people and your home and I am deeply sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you.’

Growing restless Keith grabbed the bars and interrupted the moment.

‘What ritual?’ He asked bluntly. Loh’ghan turned to him. ‘The one you mentioned to the droid.’ She frowned.

‘You have not been informed.’ She tutted in annoyance, but he felt it wasn’t aimed at them. ‘So disrespectful of our traditions.’ She sighed. ‘Voltron and it’s paladins are to be the reward for Rok’oth’s bastardised version of a traditional custom. We once called it a Test of Honour; he calls it the Festival of Blood.’ Everyone looked on with varying degrees of horror, disbelief and anger. ‘And under Rok’oth’s law, the victor will own Voltron and its paladins.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :) x


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A time to train and a time to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, so sorry for the unexpected hiatus, I was ill for a few weeks, and it was then immediately followed by the Christmas period, and since I have a lovely small person who had Christmas holidays for the last two weeks, all my attention has been on them and making sure hey had a brill Christmas. They did and i'm all better and back to being able to look at the computer monitor without getting a migraine. 
> 
> I hope everyone had a happy holiday :) x

His practice weapon clattered to the floor a few feet away and Lance stumbled back, Li’ranna swung out low but Lance was too unbalanced to jump over the swing and his feet were knocked out from under him sending him sprawling to the floor.

Again.

It was getting harder and harder to find the will to get up, each easy defeat was chipping away at his confidence, and each fall, despite the softened soil, was hurting more and more. From his protesting muscles (it was no joke trying to parry a blow from an Org, Li’ranna was not holding back and Lance had yet to successfully parry one her attacks, and each hit was slowly killing his arms) to the growing number of bruises he could feel spreading across his body.

His butt in particular was smarting something fierce, but he was sure that he had a rather impressive bruise blooming across his side where Li’ranna had got in an unobstructed hit, it had knocked the air clean out of him and he’d had a spend a few moments wheezing pathetically while Li’ranna and Ishani watched on.

But Lance felt that he might have reached his limit, his confidence couldn’t take any more hits, his arms were trembling, and his side was throbbing and despite all that… he didn’t feel as if he had learnt anything at all.

So instead of getting up he just continued to lay on the ground, legs and arms spread wide, his chest heaving, and eyes stinging from how pathetic he felt in that moment.

‘Get up.’ Li’ranna ordered, unsympathetically.

Lance let his head fall to the side so that he could see Li’ranna. The worst part was, Li’ranna hadn’t moved an inch from her starting spot. Lance had charged at her every time and she had knocked him to the ground time and time again with just her weapon and skill.

How the hell had he survived this long?

The thing was, Lance was used to fighting as part of a team, while Keith, Shiro and Allura were taking care of all the close combat situations Lance was normally perched on high ground picking enemies off with deadly shots. He was the sharpshooter, give him a gun and he was golden, but he had no idea how to confront an enemy head on.

‘I can’t.’ Lance replied flatly.

Li’ranna’s upper lip curled up in frustration, her grip on her weapon tightening threateningly but Lance didn’t even have the energy to be intimidated by it, he just turned his gaze back up to the ceiling, eyes trailing over the stalactites made of earth and roots.

‘Are you giving up?’ She growled which just made Lance sigh.

‘I’m tired and sore, you’ve done nothing but beat me up and show me that I really am weak.’

‘An Org learns from experience.’ She snapped. ‘I did not realise that you needed coddling, if this is your attitude after one day of training then I have very little hope for you.’ And that hurt. He didn’t bother masking his wince, but he really didn’t have the energy to get up again, so he let her words go undefended.

‘But,’ came an unimpressed drawl, ‘he is not an Org.’

Lance dropped his head the other way to look at Ishani. She pushed away from the wall and Blue took that as her cue, she bounded past Ishani and over to Lance’s prone form, she nudged his nose with the tip of hers, prompting a fond smile from Lance. And then her form changed into the shapeless orb before she rushed over him. The cooling water numbed his aches and pains to something less crippling and the trembling of his overworked muscles settled.

That sure was handy.  

She took her feline form again, landing at his feet and Lance threw her a grateful look. She hadn’t healed everything since he could still feel his body twinge in some places, and he was sure he would still be coloured with bruises, but he felt like he could move again and that was enough.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked up at the new shadow cast over him Ishani stood over him with a hand held out towards him, with a grateful smile he grasped her hand and she easily pulled him to his feet.

‘The trouble, as I am seeing it, is that you are trying to teach him to fight like an Org.’ She looked down at him with a small shrug. ‘No offence intended but your physiology is far too different to that of an Org’s, they are built for brute strength and resilience, you are…’ She looked a little chagrined in her pause. ‘…not.’

Lance looked down at himself for only a moment before conceding with a helpless nod.

‘That’s fair.’ He hummed.

‘The truth is you are never going to be as strong as an Org.’

He could have worked that much out for himself. Every strike of Li’ranna’s weapon against had sent tremors through his arms before he was forced to the ground, or lost grip of his weapon.

He hadn’t felt this small since he was a squeaky voiced fourteen year old first starting out as a cadet at the garrison, fortunately he’d been blessed with a growth spurt not long after, not that it meant much here, he was still a couple of heads shorter then everyone else.

And the few muscles he’d gained since becoming a part of Voltron – which he’d been so proud of – were laughable compared to these guys. He must look like a beanpole to them.

He hadn’t realised he’d dropped his head to the look at the floor until Ishani touched the tip of his chin with a finger and gently raised his head so that he was looking up at her.

‘I did not mean to discourage you.’ She said. Lance just shrugged and offered a depreciating smile.

‘You’re not wrong though.’ He mumbled; eyes averted so he didn’t have to see the pity in her eyes.  

‘That being said, you have sharp reflexes. Li’ranna has been knocking you down because you cannot withstand her strength, but you have only missed one of her blows, the rest of the time you have intercepted each of her attacks with skilful swiftness. And that, is your advantage.’

‘My advantage?’ Lance asked, his gaze shooting back to meet Ishani’s. She smiled smugly and snaked an arm across his shoulders before gently guiding him away from Li’ranna.

‘He is mine to train.’ She growled at their backs.

‘Calm yourself, I am simply going to impart my wisdom on him, after all,’ She turned to Li’ranna with a vicious smile and an equally as vicious look in her eyes. ‘I am well trained in the arts of fighting an Org, I will have him getting through your defences in no time at all.’

The abrupt reminder that they were once enemies caused a frisson of tense energy to erupt between them, and Lance, still trapped under Ishani’s arm, felt very uncomfortable.

Li’ranna curled her lip in distaste, her knuckles turned white from how tight she was holding her staff, she looked as if she was just holding herself back from attacking and Ishani seemed to find it all funny, as if being face to face with an angry eight foot Org who looked ready to throw hands was hilarious.

But Ishani laughed as she waved away Li’ranna’s anger with a dismissive hand and continued to pull Lance away, she smirked down at Lance and her eyes twinkled mischievously.

‘I apologise, but she is too easy to rile up and I cannot resist the temptation.’

‘You’re crazy,’ Lance laughed. ‘But I think I get it.’ Riling Keith up had been one of his favourite past-times too, though he doubted Ishani’s reasons for it ran along the same vein as his.

Ishani hummed, like there was some great understanding between them. ‘Perhaps I have lost my senses.’ Ishani murmured softly, her face took on a faraway look and as she got lost in a thought her eyes dimmed. Lance watched her quietly for a moment before she seemed to snap herself back to the present, her eyes brightened, and she blinked down at Lance.

She loosened her hold and straightened his shoulders before letting go with a hearty pat on each arm, he winced, because though she may seem slimmer than an Org, the Drai’s strength were no joke either.

‘Traditionally the Drai were a non-combative race, we believed in peace and harmony in all living things and our strengths were in our power of foresight and our abilities as empaths. When the Galra invaded our planet, we were helpless to their power, they conquered us swiftly and forced us to destroy our own planet. Our Great Leader foresaw this outcome and had enacted measures for our escape, in the process… he perished.

‘As his daughter, it was my duty to lead my people to safety in his stead.’

Ishani closed her eyes for a moment and Lance waited patiently for her to compose herself.

‘I reached out and Gaia answered, but immediately we were besieged by the inhabitants of this planet and I thought, not again, we will never again be subjugated, so for the first time in our history we took up arms and we fought.’

‘For the sake of survival we became well trained in the art of fighting Orgs, we are strong but they are much stronger still, so we had to adapt.’ She smiled at Lance. ‘You will never be as strong as an Org but that does not mean you cannot win.’

‘Ok.’ He said with a quick nod, it sounded less discouraging now and more motivating and he was ready to not get his ass thrown to the ground. Ishani smiled proudly and shot a smug look over Lance’s shoulder which elicited an irritated growl.

‘Too easy.’ She chuckled before refocusing on Lance. ‘You need to focus on your assets, do not try to match an Org in strength and if possible avoid a direct hit, if for any reason you cannot then deflect, they are big and often put their all into a reckless swing, redirect their blow and they’ll stumble leaving you with an opening.

‘When she goes for a swing alter the angle of your weapon, move with the blow instead of trying to withstand it and she will stagger, use those sharp eyes of yours and your speed to get past her defences and strike, the attack does not have to be strong, it just needs to be precise and deadly.’

Lance eyes widened; it hadn’t really occurred to him until now that he might have to kill. Not that he hadn’t before, but it was far easier to remain removed from it when he was at a distance looking through the scope of his rifle. Could he stand to feel the slide of a blade through flesh and not vomit? Could he remain strong when he would have to see the life leave their eyes when he ran them through? If he even survived close quarter fighting.

Ishani framed his face with her hands and Lance’s eyes jumped up to meet hers, she smiled sadly.

‘Leave that head of yours, Lance, do not think too hard about what you will have to do and remember that Rok’oth has done far worse, he would not offer you mercy so do not let this sit on conscience… we must all do what we must in order to survive.’

He understood that concept well enough, and he also knew it wasn’t as easy to brush away as Ishani was implying.

Shiro had been forced to do what it took to survive and though he hid it well, his physical scars weren’t the only scars he carried. He remembered some mornings were they all awkwardly sat around the table pretending that they hadn’t heard Shiro’s cut off screams where he’d been brutally awoken from a nightmare, or the choked sobs he’d tried to stifle.

Or pretend that Shiro didn’t look exhausted, even as he put on a smile for their benefit.

They hadn’t known how to address it so Lance had done what he always did best and lightened the mood with poorly timed jokes and puns, or triggered a light-hearted fight with Keith over something unimportant and stupid, the others had groaned but it didn’t matter if it helped chase the shadow away from Shiro’s face.

‘That seems to be a common theme in space.’ He chuckled wryly, though there was nothing amusing about it at all.

‘Do you feel ready to face Li’ranna again, I believe she is growing restless.’ Lance looked over his shoulder and sure enough, Li’ranna was glaring over at the them, she had her hands folded over the end of her training sword, her fingers tapped away furiously over the back of her other hand and the heel of her foot was making a pretty deep indent in the ground where she was jogging her leg. She straightened once she realised she was being watched and her lip curled up into a sneer.

‘Are you done conspiring?’ She growled.

‘We are done.’ Ishani announced with an exaggerated sweep of her arms, then she grinned coyly, which only made Li’ranna’s frown deepen. ‘And when Lance wins using my advice, I demand a sparring match with you.’

‘Oh?’ Li’ranna’s eyes widen a fraction before they narrowed sharply. ‘You sound confident. But why do you wish to spar with me?’

‘You are known as the Battle Maidens most vicious warrior, but I have yet to cross weapons with you, I wish to judge your strength for myself.’

‘I do not have to prove myself to you.’

Ishani tilted her head, the beads on her adorned horn tinkled with the motion, catching the glow of her eyes and throwing out colours across her pale blue skin.

‘Scared?’ She goaded. Li’ranna bristled, her nostrils flaring in agitation. Lance entertained the thought of moving away from Ishani just in case Li’ranna decided to charge, but he also really didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

‘You wish.’ She snapped.

Lance frowned, his shoulders straightening as he shot Ishani a suspicious look, she was smiling smugly, then he looked back at Li’ranna who was glaring, but if he looked carefully he was sure he could see a small upturn on the corner of her lips.

And they were just staring at each other which… ok.

Lance shifted awkwardly, his face growing warm. He wouldn’t say he recognised this situation for what it was, because it definitely hadn’t been flirting when he had goaded Keith into face planting the surface of the planet in exactly the same manner, nope, just a healthy dose of rivalry. And sure, he may be harbouring feelings for him now, but the two things were not at all connected.

‘So, I have some thoughts.’ Lance announced, breaking the strange tension in the room. ‘When you say “when”, I think you mean “if”.’ He looked over at Li’ranna. ‘A big “if”, because I think I heard you say something about most vicious warrior and I’m having some… reservations about my chances.’

Ishani pushed her hands into his back and gave him a gentle shove.

‘You will be fine, size is not important here, it is how you use it that matters, I believe in you.’

‘Easy for you to say when you're tall and strong.’ Lance said under his breath as he walked towards Li’ranna. She swung her stick around to grasp it with both hands and lowered herself into position. Lance swallowed down his nerves and mimicked her stance, only instead of bunching his muscles ready to leap he took a deep breath and focused.

He had sharpshooter eyes, he could make a perfect shot from a thousand meters away while his target was in the frenzy of battle, so he used those sharp eyes to catalogue Li’ranna’s posture.

He took in the way her feet were planted, the way she held her staff, and which part of her body she seemed to favour, he imagined she didn’t leave many openings, but the point of this was to make one so he looked her over before giving himself a mental nod.

Right. Feign confidence, put her on edge and make it up as you go along. Solid plan, he felt, it usually worked for Keith so why not.

He carefully arranged his face to something smug, and Li’ranna’s eyes narrowed, her hands re-gripping her staff.

Lance took off, but he kept his staff close to his body instead of swinging like he had been before, Li’ranna changed footing, adjusting for the angle that Lance was coming in at and Lance stopped dead, spun on his heal and darted for her other side, her eyes widened a little and though her body was angled awkwardly from her aborted adjustment she still brought down her staff to parry with Lance’s.

Only this time, instead of trying to hold off the attack, Lance moved with the momentum of her blow, angling his staff downwards causing hers to slide down and in her surprise she lost her footing, still twisted from her earlier shift, and that was his opening.

There was no way he was knocking her over, she was too sturdy for that, but he didn’t need to knock her down, he just needed to get the killing strike. He spun again, swinging his staff around and Li’ranna froze when the end of Lance’s staff touched her throat, too slow in bringing her staff back up.

The shocked silence was deafening, and no one dared to move, that was until Ishani’s started clapping. Coming to himself quickly, like emerging from an out of body experience, he snapped his staff away and took a few hasty steps away from Li’ranna.

And then another step back to be on the safe side.

Li’ranna was slower to straighten, having remained frozen in place while Lance had been scrambling away. When she did straighten, her eyes slid over to Lance and he felt sweat build on the back of his neck as he waited for her anger.

She cracked her neck and Lance flinched.

‘Good job.’ She said and… wait what?

‘Huh?’ He said dumbly.

‘I assume her advice was to use what you have to your advantage, it’s true you’ll never be as strong as an Org, but you are agile. Before, you were swinging recklessly, leaving many openings, and making yourself unsteady, a strong wind could have knocked you over with the stance you had.’ She offered a flash of a smile but Lance was too flabbergasted to respond in kind.

‘You did good… but don’t get cocky, it won’t be so easy next time.’ She warned.

‘Well, he’ll just have to keep practicing then,’ Ishani interrupted, ‘he is a fast learner and I’m sure under our diligent guidance he’ll be a champion yet.’

‘Our?’ Li’ranna queried with an arched brow.

‘Well of course, it was with our combined efforts he was able to advance so swiftly.’

‘Right.’ Li’ranna said with a roll of her eyes and a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

‘We’ll have him arena ready in no time.’

Lance stopped short, his head snapping up from where he had been awkwardly looking away while Li’ranna and Ishani did their… thing.

‘Arena? What arena?’ He asked sharply. Li’ranna turned her gaze to him and frowned deeply.

‘The arena in the Capital.’ She said slowly, as if Lance should understand what she was talking about. ‘Rok’oth has announced a tournament with your allies and Voltron as the grand prize… I thought Ma Rhea’za…’ Her face cleared as if she suddenly understood. ‘She has not told you yet.’ She gasped. ‘Oh Grak, I thought you already knew, it is why I pushed your combat training forward…’

A tournament, for his friend’s lives…. What the hell?!

‘I have to… I’ve got to go.’ He turned and ran for the door throwing his staff down as he ran, he stopped when he got to the door, Blue ran up to join him, the water inside her body looked turbulent and he wondered if that was a reflection to what he was feeling on the inside right now.

He turned back to the others and rushed out a quick thank you for the training, before spinning away and leaving them behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! :) x


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good omens or ill tidings?

With Blue leading the way Lance ran through the tunnels, his stomach twisted in knots, his bruises throbbing and his head pounding with burning questions.

How long had Ma Rhea’za known? Why hadn’t she told him? Why would Rok’oth give up possession of Voltron in a tournament? And most importantly what would happen to his friends should someone win it?

He trusted that Blue knew where she was going because Lance had stopped recognising anything two turns ago. Ma Rhea’za had said that she would know where to find her. And she hadn’t been wrong because a moment later Blue came to a stop in front of an open entrance and turned on the spot to watch Lance as he made his approach. He slowed to a stop and planted a hand on his throbbing side.

Blue padded over and Lance held up a hand.

‘It’s alright girl, it’s just a bruise, I’m just winded.’ She sunk back a little before coming forwards anyway and brushing up against him, the throbbing ache was instantly soothed, and Lance sighed. He ran a hand over her head, admiring the ripple that travelled down the back of her neck and her back. ‘Thanks.’ He said fondly.

He straightened up and took a deep breath, he took a few steps towards the entrance before coming to a stop when he heard voices.

‘…the fissures have stopped spreading… are you sure of this?’ He heard Ma Rhea’za’s incredulous sounding voice.

‘Yes,’ Came a quieter response. ‘The surrounding clans have been monitoring the damage quite closely, despite the Galra’s continued drilling, the fissures have ceased to spread.’

‘And the quakes?’

‘They appear to have lowered in frequency.’  There was a heavy sigh from Ma Rhea’za.

‘It is too soon to decide whether this is a good sign or the calm before the storm.’

‘Could it be that the Sending the Champion performed has began to heal Gaia?’

‘I… do not believe that one sending, no matter how large a sending it was, could heal five deca-pheobs worth of damage, perhaps it helped but…’

‘But the clans also reported that life has started blooming from the existing fissures, only Gaia can perform such miracles.’

The was a great pause and Lance held his breath, but so into the ongoing conversation he was that he didn’t feel the tell-tail stirring at the base of his skull.

 _What have you been up to, my Champion?_  

Lance startled badly enough that he made an aborted squeaking sound which he quickly muffled with his hands, he pressed his back against the wall and waited for his heart to stop racing before he responded.

 _‘How long have you been lurking?’_ He shot back mentally.

_Long enough._

Lance chewed on his lower lip, contemplative and fighting back a million burning questions before tentatively asking one.

 _‘So is it true, are you beginning to heal?’_ Gaia is quiet for an uncomfortably long time and Lance fidgets anxiously. He’s about to prompt her when she talks.

 _It’s complicated._ She said with a heavy sigh. _Though I am still connected to the planet, I did not have a lot of power left due to the Galra’s actions, which is why the planet is dying. Lance… everything I had left I gave to you because you really are the only hope I have left._

 _‘E-everything!’_ He fell back against the rocky wall, careless of his bruises, but he was too stunned to even react. _‘But what if I fail?’_ He asked urgently, panic seeping into his thoughts. _‘You did realise this was a possibility, right?_ He asked and then another question struck him. _‘What will happen to you if I fail?’_

Gaia’s silence was answer enough and Lance had to take a few calming breathes to curb the panic.

_Please Lance, calm yourself, I did not want to tell you because I did not want to put more pressure on you. I have complete faith in you._

_‘But I was so reckless, I nearly died and that would have been the end.’_

_And we have learnt our lesson now, we will not be so reckless in the future._

_‘Ok…ok.’_

_Good. Now answer something for me. During the events of your… passing, where were you?_

Lance frowned, confused by the question.

 _‘I don’t understand.’_ Where could he have gone?

_I’ve been trying to fathom it out but when your heart stopped, I lost you._

_‘I died.’_ Lance reminded her, of course he would have been gone.

 _The aura lingers long after death, that is why the unsent linger, when your heart stopped, it was if I was the only one that remained in your body… it was dark._ The last part came out so small that Lance’s heart ached. _I could not feel even the smallest trace of you._

Should he be concerned that Gaia didn’t realise he’d been in her aura? If that had been her aura? But what else could it have been. Or should he more concerned that for an unknown amount of time he’d been completely removed from his body? He shuddered, it was bad enough being pushed back while Gaia took over, but to be completely detached.

He had been pulled back by the Druids ritual but what if they’d been unable to find him? Would he have been stuck in that barren scape with those unsettling black sludge things for the rest of time?

‘Champion?’

Lance choked on an alarmed gasp and spluttered into his hand, his watering eyes darted up to find Ji’raan hovering by the entrance of the cavern. he couldn’t see her face with how low her hood fell, but she was leaning towards him with her hands hovering in worry while Lance coughed and sputtered.

‘Are you unwell?’ She asked, alarmed.

He shook his head quickly, throwing up two hasty thumbs up.

‘All’s good, in the Lancey-hood’ _ugh, just strike me down now_ ‘… you just surprised me,’ He coughed into the inside of his elbow one last time. ‘I was, uh, _communing_ with Gaia and –‘

Ji’raan gasped and she swiftly bent at the waist in a deep bow. ‘Uh…?’

‘I-I apologise for interrupting Champion! May the Goddess forgive me for my thoughtlessness.’ Lance gaped down at Ji’raan, he glanced around nervously.

‘Ok, wow.’ He whispered, bewildered, before reaching forwards. He came to a stop before touching her since he was sure she would jump out of her skin if he tried so he just held his hands up between them awkwardly. ‘Hey, don’t worry about it, we were just chatting, nothing too important.’ He assured her quickly.

Slowly, she straightened up and Lance let his hands drop to his side as he offered her a reassuring smile. She hesitantly nodded her head and then said nothing.

They stood there silently watching each other… and _wow_ , this was awkward, he was one step away from rocking back and forth on his feet, though his smile had dampened to something he usually saved for awkward encounters with people he didn’t really want to stop and chat too.

 _Shake it off Lance, what is wrong with you!_ He mentally scolded himself.  _People are your thing._ He relaxed his demeanour and eased his smile into something more natural.

‘Anyway, I was hoping to talk to Ma Rhea’za.’

‘Yes.’ She said. And Lance waited for a moment, thinking that maybe she had more to add until he could feel it getting awkward again when she said nothing more. He was beginning to think Ji’raan wasn’t used to talking to people outside of those she was familiar with.

‘So… is she in there?’ He pointed into the room she had come out of with his thumb. ‘She mentioned that Blue would know the way, I just want to make sure I’m not barging in on someone else.’

‘Yes, she is.’

‘Alright then, I’m just going to… go in then.’ He shimmied past her, and the opening of her hood followed his movements as she turned to watch him go. He offered her a jaunty wave, unsure how else to part ways. He turned part of the way when…

‘Champion?’ He paused and looked over his shoulder.

‘Call me Lance.’ He said.

‘No.’ Her blunt response was immediate, though he got the sense it was not meant unkindly.

‘Ok.’ He murmured. ‘What’s up?’ He prompted.

‘How did you…’ She paused again but Lance figured she was just trying to organise her thoughts, so he waited. ‘…get the Orgs and Drai to set aside their differences?’

Not a question he had been expecting truthfully, so he pondered on it for a moment before smiling and shrugging sheepishly.

‘I yelled at them, more specifically, I yelled at Li’rana.’ He recalled with a grimace. ‘Though I probably only got away with that because I’m Gaia’s vessel or whatever.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little uncomfortable. ‘I doubt anyone would have listened to me if it wasn’t for Gaia.’ He admitted.

‘That is probably true.’ Ji’raan agreed readily and Lance barked out a laugh from sheer surprise – this girl is savage in her honesty. ‘But our goddess chose you as her champion, she must have seen something special in you. Sometimes it takes just one person to see it before others realise it is there too, and our people have seen it.’ She said in that matter-of-fact way she had. And then, without saying another word, she spun on the spot and walked off.

Lance stared after her, wide eyed and… touched by the honesty in her voice. He blinked away the stinging in his eyes and cleared his throat as he shook himself free of the stupor.

‘Man, this tunnel sure is dusty.’ He said to no one in particular, he used a finger to wipe at the corner of his eye.

 _‘How come I’ve become so emotional since we bonded? I swear I’ve never cried this much before.’_ He directed to Gaia, she hummed in soft amusement.

_You need no masks here. Does it not feel good to be open and honest about how you are feeling?_

_‘It’s draining.’_ He snapped back immediately but then he remembered what he had finally admitted to himself regarding his feelings for Keith and softened his countenance on the subject. _‘But I guess it’s not so bad.’_ He tacked on with a small smile.

‘Lance?’

He jumped in shock and spun around to face Ma Rhea’za who was standing at the entrance of the room he had been trying to enter this entire time. She looked down at him curiously while Lance tried to settle his racing heart.

‘Geez,’ He breathed. ‘People around here need to start making some noise, It’s like you guys are trying to give me a heart attack.’ He sniped. Ma Rhea’za expression shifted from curious to unimpressed and Lance winced when he realised why.

‘Right, probably should have phrased that differently.’ He admitted sheepishly.

‘It is fine, I understand you jest to help you cope, but it is fresh in my mind still and I know it is in yours too, so perhaps it is wise you hold off on any heart attack japes.’

‘I’ll try to kick my brain to mouth filter into gear, but it’s kind of in my nature to make jokes at inappropriate times, I’m a little bit famous for it, ask my friends when I…’ He trailed off, suddenly remembering exactly why he was here. His smile dropped and Ma Rhea’za straightened her shoulders when she noticed they sudden change in the air. ‘My friends... after I rescue them from the Arena.’

Ma Rhea’za did very little to hide her wince and Lance sighed.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

She let her shoulders fall, and then gestured to the room behind her. Silently, Lance walked past her into the room.

He hadn’t recognised the tunnel outside, but he did recognise the room as the one they had held the meeting with the clan representatives and the Drai. He took a seat at the table, with his back to Ma Rhea’za. He heard her move closer and she took a seat beside him. From the corner of his eyes he could see her posture was tense. Lance looked away again.

‘I apologise for withholding this information from you, Lance, I had no malicious intent and I had every intention of telling you before the end of this cycle.’

‘Why wait?’ He asked tersely.

‘A lot has happened to you in a such short span of time, but it has been only one cycle since you almost died.’ Lance dropped his gaze to the table, frowning. Had it really only been yesterday since he’d… he was losing sense of time in this place, being underground was making it hard to track the passing days. ‘When you came to me at the start of this new cycle you were in high spirits, I found myself reluctant to ruin that, so I held my tongue. I simply wanted you to have the day before I placed another burden on your shoulders.’

Unbidden, Lance’s thoughts turned to Blue, he glanced over at her to find she was already watching him, as if she knew he needed her before Lance himself knew, she blinked slowly up at him and the corner of Lance’s mouth hitched up. Ma Rhea’za had given him Blue again, even if she didn’t understand the significance of that.

She had softened the ground of the training room she had created because she knew he would need it.

She had spoken of the steep prices to pay to use the healing water to heal someone from the near death and yet she had performed the ritual each time Lance had needed it.

She had been patient, understanding and endlessly kind to him, even though he was an outsider, even though Gaia had chosen someone outside her own race, even though Lance barely had any hope in himself… she hadn’t once doubted him.

His whole body sagged and any anger he had drained from him completely, he tilted his head up to glance at Ma Rhea’za. He took in her cowed expression and sighed, it didn’t look good on someone like Ma Rhea’za and he hated that she looked like that over someone like him.

He found himself rubbing the back of his neck anxiously before making up his mind, and with a small smile he reached out and placed a hand over hers which where balled together over the table. She flinched before her hands relaxed, she watched their hands for a moment before turning to look at him.

‘Thank you.’ He said. ‘You’ve done nothing but look after me since I got here and I’m really grateful that you’ve been so accepting of me, because I know I’m not what anyone envisioned for a champion.’

Her hands flipped over and covered his, holding it gently between her two larger hands.

‘It’s true that you are not what we envisioned, but you turned out to be something much better. Warriors we have plenty of, what we needed was a healer, to sooth our pain and give us a reason to fight again. You have bought with you something we have been lacking for some time.’ She reached forwards and brushed aside a strand of his whitened hair and then pressed a thumb to his forehead where the white glowing mark stopped just above his brow.

The gesture felt meaningful so Lance sat still and watched Ma Rhea’za’s face, but he was staring so intently at her closed eyes that he almost missed the gentle glow that had begun to build above his eye line, where the pad of her thumb met his skin.

He held his breath and then she smiled warmly as she pulled her hand away. The glow faded slowly like she had left an imprint behind.

‘You have given us more then you understand.’ She said. She squeezed his hand gently and he returned the gesture, she patted it affectionately with the other hand, and he was brutally reminded of his Abuela.

Reminded of a time when he would sit on the porch of their home watching the sunset disappear into the ocean, the last of the sun’s light glittering across the gentle waves and a warm aged hand in his; as the only one of the Mcclain kids content enough to just sit comfortably with his Abuela as she watched the sunset after dinner.

Afterwards, when the sun finally dipped away for the day, his Abuela would always pat his hand affectionately as a silent thank you before they would head back in together to join the rest of the family.

He smiled wistfully at Ma Rhea’za. ‘I think, you guys gave me something to.’ He said. It was nice to be able to think about his family without wanting to break down. Lance straightened up and met Ma Rhea’za’s eyes with a new burst of determination.

‘So,’ He grinned, ‘what’s the plan?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :) x


End file.
